Don't Lie
by aikoflutist247
Summary: AU How long can you deny that you're in love? How long can you lie about it? Joy experiences this as she attends Twilight High Boarding School. RoxasOC Other Minor Pairings Inside RomanceHumorDrama
1. Prologue

Hey ya'll : Aikoflutist247 here with another story. I know I've taken the idea of Kingdom Hearts 2 set in boarding school, but hey, why not do it again? And this time with a new character?

Not that I have something against any of the characters, but I always imagine the guy I like with a girl I make up xP. So here it is.

**Pairings:** RoxasOC SoraKairi RikuOC HaynerOlette [Other pairings may be decided later

Just letting you all know, I have nothing against the pairing RoxasNamine or Namine, I just wanted to try something new. Also, I don't like yaoi/shounen ai. No offense, but every time my friend makes me read yaoi or watch it, my mind flashes to my guy friends doing that guy-on-guy stuff...and it's not _pretty_.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters :[

* * *

_**Prologue  
**_

"_Do you like me?"_

_We were at school, at lunch, and my crush had asked to talk to me privately. I had my hopes high, thinking this was it. In any way, he was going to know my feelings. I started getting nervous when he asked to come here. But he made me even more nervous when he asked me that question._

_"Of course I like you." I thought he was asking me if I liked him as a friend, but deep down, I knew what he was asking. I just answered it like this to lighten the mood a bit. I could feel the fretfulness in the air._

_"No, I mean, do you like me in _that_ way?"_

_I was silent, looking the other way. "Maybe." I heard him sigh in an impatient way, "Just kidding. Yes, I do like you. I really like you," I said to him, finally telling my feelings to my crush. I looked back at him with hope-filled eyes. He looked the other way. He was uncomfortable and I knew it. It was going to happen again. I gazed at him before saying, "you don't have to say yes. You can say 'no' to me." I kept my voice strong._

_He took one long sigh before saying, "I think it's better we stay friends."_

_"Okay, I'm fine with that. I'll see you around." I walked away from him, toward my friends. I looked back at him from the corner of my eye to find that he was already walking toward another girl. '_His crush,_' I thought, '_no doubt. No wonder he rejected me._' _

_I faced forward again. Tears started to form at the corners of my eyes. Even though I said I was fine, I wasn't. Is that all guys ever see in me? A _friend_ only? This wasn't the only time that this has happened to me. I've confessed to all my crushes only to be a mere friend to them. Nonetheless, after being rejected numerous times, I got back on my feet and continued to live my life. _

_But this time, it'll be hard to stand back on my feet strong. I don't want to face the pain once more. I'm not going to fall for anyone anymore. I think this is a better choice for me. My best friend says otherwise, but I'm not going to be fooled. I'll continue living my life, sure, but…I'll just be what everyone wants me to be. _A friend.

_Deep down in myself, I hated my high school. I had so many rejections, and memories that I wished that never occurred. So, when my best friend and I got home, my mom surprised me by saying, "you're going to boarding school." _

_"__**WHAT?!" **_


	2. New Students of Twilight High

Hey ya'll : Aikoflutist247 here with another story. I know I've taken the idea of Kingdom Hearts 2 set in boarding school, but hey, why not do it again? And this time with a new character?

Not that I have something against any of the characters, but I always imagine the guy I like with a girl I make up xP. So here it is.

**Pairings:** RoxasOC SoraKairi RikuOC HaynerOlette [Other pairings may be decided later

Just letting you all know, I have nothing against the pairing RoxasNamine or Namine, I just wanted to try something new. Also, I don't like yaoi/shounen ai. No offense, but every time my friend makes me read yaoi or watch it, my mind flashes to my guy friends doing that guy-on-guy stuff...and it's not _pretty_.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters :[

**Claimer:** I do own Joy, Amy, Lillian, & Cookie :_**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter One  
**_**New Students of Twilight High**

The sun rose higher and out of the clouds to show the start of a brand new day. Out of the clouds, a plane was visible and flew through the sky, over plains and seas, high above the mountains. In the plane, many passengers sat in their seats, attendants going from passenger to passenger just before hearing their requests and demands, and the pilot working the plane to its destination.

In the crowd of passengers, sat two teenage girls seated next to each other. A unique color of violet colored eyes scanned a page in her manga as she listened to her iPod. Her mid-back length sea foam blue-green hair was tied up into its usual high ponytail lying over the head of the seat so she was able to lean against the seat comfortably. The long raven black haired beauty next to her had fallen asleep on her best friend's shoulder with the blanket that was provided for them resting over her, giving her a shield of warmth from the air conditioner that was cooling the girl next to her.

A ring was heard above, signaling an announcement. "Attention passengers, 30 minutes till we reach Destiny Islands, Twilight Airport. So, please sit tight and thank you for flying our airlines today."

The time read 9:30AM on her watch. It's been 11 hours since they left their hometown. They were supposed to arrive at Destiny Islands two hours ago, but the plane was delayed. Looking at the sleeping beauty, she shook her shoulder in an attempt to wake up the girl. "Hey Amy, wake up. We're almost there," she told her. The girl next to her fluttered her chocolate brown eyes open as she started groaning.

"What time is it, Joy?" She asked groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"Time for you to wake up."

Amy sat back up and started yawning. She started stretching her arms up in the air, but the sudden movement caused something to start crawling out of under the blanket. Joy looked to Amy's lap to find that their kitten had woken up, jumping over the arms of the chair and on Joy's lap, she stretched out her body before sitting on one of Joy's legs, looking up at its owner.

"Morning, Cookie," Joy greeted the tiny animal as she petted her head. The kitten was very unique. Joy and Amy had found her abandoned in an alleyway, and took her in. 'Cookie' is what they called her but not because the kitty-cat had snow white fur with a big black spot on her back, on it with tiny little spots of orange here and there. Or that its ears had either a black or orange spot, or the fact that it had bright blue eyes. The kitten was called 'Cookie' because the first thing she ever ate when they tried to feed her was a chocolate-chip cookie.

"Meow," the creature let out.

Joy shushed the animal not wanting to draw attention to her, continuing to pet the little feline, "I'll give you a treat later." The kitten purred from the affection and closed her eyes as Joy continued to run her hand along the head down the back and repeat.

Amy had put away her blanket and proceeded to fixing her hair. "I wonder why your mother sent us off miles away from home just to go to a boarding school."

"Me too."

It was true. Joy's mother had suddenly shipped them off to another country to a boarding school that they had never heard of. Her mother's name was Lillian and she was strict, but she would let loose every once and awhile. Lillian said she had her reasons to sending her only daughter and best friend off somewhere. She had never explained it though. Now, here were Joy and Amy on the flight to Destiny Islands.

Amy kept imagining their new home to be like Hawaii considering it was an _island_, so it just made her excited about it. Joy was excited too, but only because she wanted to leave her old high school. Too many regrets. The reason that Amy was with Joy was because Amy had been kicked out of her home. Joy being her best friend gladly had taken her in, and her mother was perfectly okay with her. Lillian treats Amy as she would to Joy, like _her own daughter_. So, in ways, Joy and Amy were - in technical terms - sisters. They shared a bedroom, a home, a car, a computer, and secrets. At this moment, they were both leaving their home filled with family and friends. Putting the past of memories, good and bad, behind them and looking toward the future.

Both had made promises to each other; Amy promised to not make rash decisions without confronting Joy first and to not judge people by first impression unless it was seriously obvious. Now, Joy had promised to not fall for any guy that she sees no matter what, she was not going to love another again. After hearing Joy's promise, Amy had stated that she wasn't going to make it.

Amy looked at Joy from the corner of her eye, still fixing her hair, "Joy, do you think you can really keep your promise?"

"Of course I can," Joy said instantly after hearing.

"Really now? Even when a really great guy comes into your life?"

"Yes."

"How about when a guy starts flirting with you? What are you going to do?"

"Then, I'll walk away."

"What if - "

Joy interpreted her, "Amy, I know you're doubting me. But, I made a promise to myself and I'm going to keep it. I know if I keep chasing after guys, they're just going to reject me like all the others. So, no matter what you say - "

It was Amy's turn to interrupt. "How about when a guy confesses to you that he loves you? Not like, but love."

For some reason, that question had made Joy silent. She stared intently at the kitten in front of her before replying back, "Please, who would ever love a girl like me?"

"A guy that would love a girl like you," she said bluntly.

"Puh-lease! Like a guy would even look at me," Joy said stubbornly.

But, Amy was equally as stubborn, "You never know, Joy. Twilight might be different."

* * *

The two juniors walked through the empty halls of the dormitories as they looked for their own dorms. It was 11AM, so the students should be taking their classes in the other building. The campus of Twilight High Boarding School was _**enormous**_. There were a total of 5 buildings: dormitories, school building (classes, offices, etc.), the cafeteria, the gymnasium, and auditorium. Also, there were the basketball courts, tennis courts, baseball diamond, and the football and soccer fields. And the huge clock tower was right in front as the entrance to the school. So, that was the school. It was also in a great location. It was next to the beach, near the mall, and there were a ton of places to just have a great day!

"I think I love this school," Joy said, laughing to herself as she hyperly walked through the halls. She heard Cookie 'meow' in agreement as she popped her head out of her duffel bag.

Amy was especially hyper. It seemed she ate too much candy on the way out of the plane. "Let's sing in happiness because this is the greatest school we have ever been to!"

"Hold up, Amy," Joy said, stopping Amy from singing, "what's your dorm room?"

"Hmm," looking down at her schedule that would have the information, she said, "Dorm #314. How about you?"

"I got 317," Joy replied back, looking down at her schedule. "Too bad we're not roommates."

"Aww," she sulked, talking to herself saying not going to be with her 'sister'.

Joy laughed at her, "I'm only three rooms away, Amy." Since she was a little ahead, she started walking backwards, facing Amy. "Besides, I could always sle - "

She didn't finish her question as Amy yelled out, "Joy, watch out!"

Quickly turning around, she was suddenly knocked over. She landed on her butt, and before falling back, she quickly balanced herself, placing her hands on the floor behind her. Opening her eyes that she didn't even realize she had closed from impact, she saw sky-blue eyes staring back at her in shock, a boy's. That's when she noticed that they were stuck in a non-common position that isn't really shown in mangas, that she's read, when the guy bumps into the girl.

Joy's left leg was propped up while her other leg was stretched out on the floor. The boy that had knocked her over had fallen in front of her, and was in a position over Joy's stretched out leg that looked like he was going to give a little child a horsey-back ride. His left hand was next to her right hand, but his other hand had ended up landing on top of her left hand, and caused himself to not fall any farther on the poor girl. If someone were walking around the corner, they would've mistaken the two for kissing, because at an angle it looked like they were lip locking. But at Amy's point of view, their faces were so close that their noses were just about to touch.

If they weren't staring into each other's eyes, they would've noticed the papers that were still flying in the air and scattered across the floor, and the CD's that were also in a messy pile next to them. Also, Joy's duffel bag had fallen on the floor right next to the spot that Joy had once stood and her suitcase had fallen over once Joy had let go of the handle. It was quiet. Amy seemed too surprised to do anything.

Becoming aware of the close contact, a deep blush crept up to both of their faces as Joy wavered out in a small voice, "Um…"

"S-sorry!" He stuttered out, quickly getting off her. He held out his hand to her, which she slowly took. At that precise moment when their hands came in contact, they both felt a chill run down their spines. They both took note of it and glanced at their joined hands. Once Joy was sitting upright, she quickly let go of his hand.

"Um, I think I'm the one to apologize. I wasn't watching where I was going," she said. She looked at the floor in embarrassment when she found the papers and CD's everywhere. "Oh, what a mess." The boy looked down on the floor and also noticed the mess. He quickly started picking up the papers. "Here, let me help you," Joy offered, crouching down to pick up the surrounding papers.

"Thanks," he politely said.

Looking up at her best friend, she told her to help with the CD's. Amy, finally out of her surprised daze, started piling up the CD's in a neat stack. Amy glanced at the boy and noticed him taking glances at Joy every now and then when she wasn't looking. He seemed like a nice guy and that made her smile. Amy was already predicting what could happen in the future.

After awhile of picking up the scattered papers, she noticed that some of them were music sheets. She was reaching for another paper, but the boy was reaching for the same one, too. And without seeing the other's hand, their hands had come in contact with each other once again. Another chill and Joy quickly retreated her hand, muttering a 'sorry' and reached for another paper. It took them awhile, but they had the papers and the CD's stacked up neatly.

"Sorry again," Joy said to him.

"No problem. It was my fault just as much as it was yours. I should've moved out of the way, but my reactions weren't as fast as my thinking." Joy smiled at his kindness and gave him her stack of papers. "My name's Roxas," he introduced himself.

"My name is Joy, and yes like 'Joy to the World'," Joy grinned at him. Noticing the quiet girl next to her, she quickly introduced Amy as well. "And this is my best friend, Amy. We're both new." Amy placed the two stacks of CD's on top of the papers.

"Well, that would make sense. Otherwise you wouldn't be here with suitcases," he indicated to the abandoned suitcases and duffel bag on the floor.

"Yeah, well, why are you here? Shouldn't you be in class?" Amy asked him. Joy took a good look at Roxas. He had gravity defying spiked up blonde hair that made her think that he used _at least_ half a container of gel to make it into that hair style. And at the moment, he looked like he was wearing the school's uniform, for boys of course. The boy's uniform consisted of black pants, a white buttoned up collard shirt with the Twilight High logo on the shirt pocket, complete with a black tie. It seemed you could wear any kind of shoes, because he was wearing sneakers.

Roxas' eyes widened in realization and he started walking away, fast. "Gotta run! I'll catch up with you guys later!"

As he turned a corner, he was out of sight. "That was interesting," Joy said, walking over to her duffel bag. Checking inside, she saw Cookie pop her little head out. Petting the creature, she picked up the duffel bag and made her rolling suitcase stand upright. She saw Amy walk over to her suitcases.

"Very interesting, indeed."

* * *

Joy walked down the halls, counting down from Amy's room, having just dropped her off at her dorm. "315... 316... 317," she announced to herself, looking at the three-digit number engraved on the white door. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned, but found that she couldn't open it. _'Oh yeah, ID Card is the key,'_ she thought, taking out her new school ID card. 

The card had her picture at the top left, 'Twilight High' in a little headline across the top of it, the logo - which consisted of two armored people, male and female, the guy with a sword and the girl with a spear - was next to her picture, underneath the logo was written '_Twilight Warriors'_ and at the bottom of the card had her name, grade, and dorm number. Next to that information was a bar code.

Joy slid her card in the slot above the doorknob and staring at the red light, it switched from red to green. Next came out a little number pad. 'PASSWORD' was displayed on the tiny screen. Looking at her schedule, she punched in the numbers and heard a resounding _click_ as she finished. The number pad went back in, and the card slot spit out her ID. Taking her card, she turned the doorknob and walked in the room with her rolling suitcase.

She closed the door and found that it didn't lock. But with security like that on the other side, she didn't think much of it. Looking around her surroundings, she found her new dorm comfortable enough. There were two beds, signaling that someone had already occupied the room before Joy got there. One bed was placed in the corner and the other bed was next to it, the two beds being separated only by a small end dresser that had a lamp and an alarm clock upon it. A desk was on the other side with a computer hooked up on it and there was a good enough size television in the wall. On the same wall, there were three doors - excluding the door that lead back out to the halls.

Placing her things next to the bed that didn't look like it was being used, she opened the doors. The door farthest away led to a small bathroom complete with a shower, sink, and toilet. The door in front of the used bed had clothes already set in it and a skateboard. A dresser was next to it. Staring at the clothes in front of her, she noticed they were more boyish clothes in it. _'My roommate must be a total tomboy,'_ Joy thought as she closed the door. The final door had hangers in it and a pair of the Twilight uniforms, for her.

The girl's uniform was the same white collard button up shirt as the boys but the girls' looked more tighter and it had a dark blue tie with it, instead of black. The pocket would be over her left breast with the Twilight High logo embroidered on it. The black and blue plaid skirt is what topped it off. Looking at the skirt, Joy's face turned to that of disgust. The skirt would barely reach to her knees. Joy never liked skirts much, especially ones that didn't have shorts under. _'What if I fall on my butt?' _Joy whined in her head.

Joy looked down at her own outfit and remembered the incident earlier. She was wearing jeans that had rolled up leggings and she was wearing a sky blue low-cut long sleeve shirt that said, '_Who cares?_' in white letters. Her hair was still up in the same high ponytail, but she had a black beret on top that was slightly tilted to the side. _'Good thing I was wearing pants or else that Roxas guy would've been getting a free show,'_ she thought to herself, laughing a bit.

After awhile of unpacking and settling in her new dorm, she heard a small melody ringing. She opened her window and looked out of it. The ringing was coming from the clock tower as both hands were on 12. She turned her head to the school building and saw students start walking out. "It must be lunchtime."


	3. An Unexpected Roommate

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette (Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be OOC xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Ms. Shao, && Mr. Rush :)

Didn't get much readers yet. And reviews are _ZIP_. Please review :) Critism is wanted. But, compliments are appreciated. If I don't get any reviews soon, I'll stop writing. And I worked hard on this story !  
Once again, nothing against yaoi/shounen ai couples, or the pairing RoxasNamine! Just wanted to try something new!

* * *

_**Chapter Two**_  
**An Unexpected Roommate**

"So, what's on the menu today?" Sora asked, putting his hands behind his head. Sora and his friends were walking out of the school building, heading over to the cafeteria for lunch.

"Spaghetti and meatballs, I think," answered Kairi, walking next to him.

"Again? Didn't we have that like _yesterday_?" Hayner asked, walking backwards in front of the group.

"No, we had it on Monday. Today's Wednesday," Pence informed him.

"What's the difference?" Hayner exasperated, crossing his arms.

"You're just complaining because you don't like spaghetti," Olette said, poking his chest. She was walking in front of Hayner as he walked backwards.

"I don't care much, I like spaghetti," Namine said, grinning. (A/N: I do not know if this is true, but hey, she's an artist :))

Roxas started chuckling from next to her, "Yeah you do, Namine. The last time you ate spaghetti, you had meat sauce all over your face - "

"_**And**_ made slurping sounds - " Kairi added in.

"_**AND**_ we scared you _soo_ much that you spit out you're food on Ms. Shao!"

"Ya!" Wakka said, trying to imitate the memory with Tidus. Everyone started laughing at the memory of their favorite blonde artist.

Namine blushed and cried out, "shut up!"

After awhile of laughing and walking, it was silent until Olette asked, "So, how was your guys' band project?"

"Crazy! Hope we got a good enough grade on it." Sora exclaimed, looking over at Roxas.

"No thanks to Roxas," Riku mumbled out, crossing his arms.

"Hey, it's not my fault! No one reminded me today was presentation day!" Roxas tried to defend himself.

"UGH! You should've known! It was on the board this _and_ last week!" Sora yelled at him.

Before the two could start arguing, they heard Olette say, "Hey Roxas, isn't that your room?"

The group turned their heads to the dormitory building and looked up to the third floor. Olette was pointing at a window, their eyes followed her pointed finger to a window. A girl was the only thing they could tell from where they were standing. "Yeah, that is my room…"

"Isn't that a girl?" Namine asked, squinting her eyes.

Pence took out her camera and zoomed in on the window. "Yeah, it is a girl," he confirmed.

Hayner elbowed Roxas suddenly, "Keeping a girl in your room now, huh? Keeping this a secret from your best friend?"

"Oo! Roxas' got a girlfriend!" Selphie shouted out hyperly. (A/N: Almost forgot about her xP)

Roxas looked from Hayner backed to the window. He squinted his eyes and noticing the blue green hair from before. Something clicked in his mind, he _knew_ that girl.

* * *

Joy looked down at the students and scanned from loners to groups of students. A few teachers were here and there, either patrolling the area or walking toward lunch. Joy had perfect eye vision, and from the third floor, she can see all kinds of students with different hairstyles that she's never seen before. There was a red head with long fiery red hair that spiked up in the direction behind him. A blonde girl next to him and her hairstyle made it seem like she had antennas. "Wow, there's something you don't see everyday," Joy said to herself as she saw a guy with long hair, but the weird thing about this guy's mane which everyone calls hair was that it was a pale pink rose color.

Suddenly, she felt like someone staring at her. Looking around, she found a brunette girl pointing at her. She was in a group, a large group. Looking around at the group, she saw the familiar blonde defying hair that she bumped into earlier. She smiled and started waving to him, hoping he was able to see her.

* * *

"She's waving, you know her, Roxas?" Sora asked the blonde guy.

Before Roxas answered, he felt an arm wrap around his neck, "So, Roxas' got a secret girlfriend? I feel heartbroken, Roxas. We're supposed to be close friends, yet you keep this secret away from me."

Recognizing the voice, he said, "She isn't my girlfriend, Axel."

* * *

Joy stopped waving as she noticed the boy a bit pre-occupied. She rested her head on her hand and stared at Roxas and his friends. They seemed to be teasing him, but he suddenly ran off from them. Joy arched her eyebrow in confusion as he started running toward the dormitories. Right before entering the building, he looked up. If Joy wasn't looking down at him, she would've tilted her head in confusion as to why he suddenly seemed to be in such a hurry. He ran inside and was out of Joy's sight.

* * *

"Why is she in your room, Roxas? Does she have your dorm password or something?" Kairi asked him as he was still in Axel's hold.

Remembering the security to a dorm's room, there was only one way to enter a dorm. He fought away from Axel's grip and ran toward the dormitory. "Hey Roxas, where you going?"

Roxas didn't say anything but continued to run. Right before entering, he stopped to look up. She was still there, her head popped out of it and looking down on him. Confirming the window and the dorm, he ran back inside. _'How did she get in my room?'_ He thought, running up the stairs.

* * *

After a few minutes of looking out the window, Joy heard a click at the door. Turning around she thought, _'that must be my roommate.'_ She stared at the door as it burst open. It made Joy jump as she was frightened easily, but her eyes widened in shock at the person that was a doorway. She was fully expecting a girl to appear. But, it wasn't a girl. Unless her vision was giving out now, there at the door was a **guy**. And not just any guy, "Roxas? How'd you get in here?"

"I should be asking _you_ the same question. What are you doing in here?"

"Me? This is _my_ dorm."

"Your dorm? That can't be possible. This is _**my**_ dorm. I was here _way_ before you."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I was assigned to this dorm!" Joy protested. She walked to the dresser and picked up her schedule and put it right in front of his face. "See? Dorm #317!" Looking at the paper, he sighed in frustration. "HA! I'm right! So, _**you**_ must be in the wrong dorm!"

Roxas stuffed his hands in his pockets, "If this isn't my dorm, how would I know the password to here?"

That shut Joy up. They both stood that way; Roxas' hands stuffed in his pockets and Joy had her hands on her hips. "Well, since this is your dorm that would explain the guy clothing in the closet."

"You went through my stuff?" Roxas arched his eyebrow.

"No!" Joy immediately said, "I just wanted to know where the doors leaded. And it just so happened that one of them was _your_ closet."

"Uh-huh," Roxas said, disbelievingly. Awkward silence.

The fast crickets ringing jingled in their heads.

Medium paced jingle.

The jingle started slowing down even more.

The sound, bit by bit, starts fading off.

Finally, dead silence.

Roxas scratched the back of his head, "What should we do?"

"Let's go complain to the office!"

* * *

"B-but Ms. Shao, there must be another way to do this!" Joy pleaded to the Assistant Principal.

"There is no other way, Ms. Kane," Ms. Shao merely said to Joy as she continued to type away on her computer. Ms. Shao had brown curly hair and she wore black rimmed glasses that were placed on her nose. She seemed really strict and looked as if she hasn't smiled in years. In addition to that, she had wrinkles that said more about her than just her age.

"You can't be serious, Ms. Shao! Can't she dorm with another girl?" Roxas pleaded. He had nothing against Joy, but he wasn't going to live the next eight months with a _girl_. First of all, his friends would never get off his back about it and he had personal guy times in which girls aren't supposed to be around for!

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hikari, but we cannot do that. It is a rule here at Twilight High that no more than two students per dorm."

'_Well, that was a stupid rule,'_ Joy thought bitterly. She was not going to live with a guy that she barely knew. She had her girl moments, just like any _other_ girl! Those times, a guy should not be there. "Can't you make an exception? I mean, **come on**! This situation calls for it!"

"This is exactly why Mr. Ansem has trusted you to Roxas." Mr. Ansem was the principal, and unfortunately, was at an 'important' Teacher Board meeting and couldn't resolve this problem.

"Why me?" Roxas cried out.

"Mr. Ansem has seen your behaviors in your classes and has looked over your grades. According to him, you are more reliable than any other male here at this school," then she quickly muttered to herself, "which I find very hard to believe."

Roxas groaned in annoyance and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't believe this is happening to me," Roxas mumbled to himself.

Ms. Shao heard him and turned her eyes to the couple. "Look, I'm not thrilled with this decision as much as you children are. But it's already done. You two are roommates for the next eight months of your schooling here. So, just _deal with it_." And with that, Ms. Shao shooed the two out of her office.

* * *

"So, who was that in your dorm, Roxas?" Roxas heaved a seat next to his best friend at their usual lunch table.

"A girl," Roxas said bluntly.

"_Obviously_! Who was she?"

"I knew it! She's your girlfriend!" Selphie exclaimed, pointing at him accusingly.

"She's a new student." Roxas was too bummed out to even protest, and just stated the truth about the girl.

"A new student? What's her name?" Olette asked with interest.

"Joy."

"Joy? Like 'Joy to the World'?"

"Joy to the world, the lord has come!" Hayner, Wakka, and Tidus started singing. Selphie joined in, but the table told them to be quiet.

"Yeah," Roxas start poking at his meatballs.

"You going to eat that?" Roxas turned his head to find that Namine was staring at his spaghetti with a sparkle in her eye. He pushed his tray to her and buried his head in his arms.

"What was she doing in your dorm, Roxas?"

The group leaned in, trying to hear what Roxas was saying from under his arms. "Speak louder, Roxas!"

Roxas groaned once again for the day and picked up his head, "She's my roommate."

The table was silent. Then, realization dawned on them and they shouted, "**WHAT?!**"

"What the heck? Why is she in your dorm??" Pence probed at him.

"No more _available _dorms."

"Wasn't Olette going to get a new roommate, too?"

"Yeah, that's Joy's best friend."

The group kept arguing over the conversation. Roxas just sat there, answering the questions that were bombed on him. This is what he expected to happen. He knew that his friends would explode on him now that his roommate was a _female_. "You guys sure can be loud." The group turned to see their senior red-headed friend, Axel.

"Hey Axel," Namine greeted, slurping in another spaghetti noodle.

"Roxas, you got a girl as a roommate?"

"Unfortunately," Roxas said, sulking a bit.

"So," Axel said, wrapping an arm around his neck in the same way he did before, "she single?"

"How should I know?"

"She even pretty?" Axel arched an eyebrow at his friend.

An image of Joy smiling flashed across Roxas' mind. A faint color of pink appeared on his face as he said, looking down at the table, "I guess…"

"She must be pretty if you're starting to blush just from thinking about her," Axel said smirking, poking Roxas' cheek that was growing darker with color.

"Hey, Roxas is blushing!" Hayner exclaimed, pointing at his face. The table and Axel started teasing Roxas, poking fun at him as he continued to grow more embarrassed. '_I just said she was pretty!'_ Roxas cried in his head as he pushed Axel away from himself.

"So, Roxas is finally going to get himself a girl," Hayner elbowed his best friend in the side.

"Quit it!" Roxas sighed. This was never going to end. Until the bell rang.

"Wow, that was the shortest lunch I could even remember," Pence said, standing up with his tray.

"Three more hours, and we can meet Roxas' girlfriend," Selphie shouted in…joy.

"Huh?"

* * *

Amy widened her eyes, "ROXAS IS _YOUR_ **ROOMMATE**!?"

Joy closed one eye from her yelling, "Yes, I know. Horrible isn't it?"

"Yeah. They should've made an exception for you, that's stupid." Amy said. The two girls were in Amy's dorm. Joy explained what had happened and Amy had just exploded on her. Fortunately, Amy had a girl for a roommate. Proof of that was that the belongings that were around the room before Amy unpacked, belonged to a girl. "Hey Joy?"

"Hm?" Joy had Cookie laying across her front as Joy was lying on Amy's bed. Amy was checking out the computer.

"What'd I tell you on the plane? I told you some great guy would walk into your life. Well, technically _bumped_ - "

"Ugh, not that again, Amy. I don't even know him," Joy protested against Amy's pestering. Joy knew that since she had a guy roommate, Amy was going to keep poking at her, telling her that she's going to fall for him or something. Joy shook her head, she promised herself she wasn't going to fall for anyone, especially some guy that she barely met.

"So, you guys had that little moment in the hallway."

_My heart was pounding against my chest as my blue colored eyes stared back at me. The guy in front of me was equally shocked as I was. I knew how close our faces were and I could feel the heat rise up into my cheeks. Despite this embarrassing moment, I gazed into his eyes. They were as blue as the sky, and they were my favorite color. Our eyes seemed to stay locked, like neither of us can tear our eyes away. I could never tell if someone was blushing, but I knew he must have felt embarrassed, too. My heart was beating against my chest, __**hard**__ and _fast._ I felt the urge to just -_

Joy blushed at the memory and mentally pushed her thoughts on the incident in the back of her head. "You're blushing again, Joy."

Joy looked over at Amy and found that she had been staring at her. "Shut up."

The chair had wheels under it, so Amy rolled the chair over to Joy and asked, "you like him, don't you?"

"No way!" Joy saw that Amy didn't believe her. Joy glared at her, "You know me better than that, Amy."

"You know, denying the truth won't hide anything."

"I'm not denying anything. I merely telling the truth." In all honesty, Joy was denying the truth. Sure, she didn't want to fall for anyone, especially this early, but deep down, she was starting to like the blonde boy. He seemed a bit different than most guys she's met.

Joy heaved a sigh, she was doing it again. She was going to fall for another guy, tell him her feelings, he'll reject her, and she'll cry like there's no tomorrow. And the worst thing of it all, she'll feel the pain that she was trying to avoid from the very beginning.

Rolling back to the computer, Amy told Joy, "whatever Joy, but I still think you won't be able to keep this kind of promise."

* * *

Roxas was staring out the window. He was in History class, the most boring subject of school to him. His history teacher, Mr. Rush, was cool and all, but when it came to teaching, he was as boring as staring at a white wall. His voice droned on and on, passing students' heads and out their ears. A few students would be dozing off and some other students, like Riku and Sora, would be playing with a paper ball. At times like these, Roxas liked to look out the window and ponder on whatever was on his mind.

And the thing that was on his mind was…well, it wasn't really a _thing_, more like a _person_. A _girl_ to be more specific. Yes, obviously, it was Joy. "Thinking of your _girlfriend_, cuz?" Sora whispered from next to him.

Roxas clenched his fist at the word, and gritted his teeth, "For the last time, she isn't my girlfriend!"

"Whoa, getting a little defensive, Roxas. You like her or something?"

"Of course I don't! I just met her," Roxas whispered harshly, turning back to the window.

Riku turned to Roxas with interest, "You must be at least attracted to her or something to have your face turn pink from the thought of her _again_."

"My face is **not** pink!" Roxas denied. He saw Riku get a mirror from a girl and put it in front of his face. He saw a trace of pink across his cheeks and immediately looked at Riku, "So what? I have a window seat and the sun's out!" Roxas said, trying to worm his way out of this situation.

"Just admit it, Roxas. You have the hots for the new girl." Riku gave back the mirror to the girl.

"Yeah Roxas, no use denying it," Sora said, slapping Roxas' back in a friend way, flashing his cheesy grin at him.

Roxas didn't have the 'hots' for Joy, but he knew that he was attracted to her. And to be truly honest with himself, Roxas didn't mind that a girl like Joy was going to be living with him. His mind flashed back to the accident earlier.

_I was walking fast down the halls. Stupid Sora didn't remind me that today was presentation day, so I had to go back to the dormitories just to get all their other materials for their project. He had to get stuck with all the paper and CD's. I heard talking up ahead; the voices sound like it belonged to a girl's. Turning the corner, I saw blue green hair. I was thinking 'move out of the way' but, my neurons didn't get to my feet as fast and before I knew it, I was staring into violet colored eyes._

_I never knew you could fall into the position that we were in when you bumped into someone. But, that was how we ended up. I don't even know how my hand winded up being on top of hers, but it happened. And one more thing I noticed the position we were in: _my right leg was in between her legs(A/N: A bit perverted I know)_. You know what I mean by 'in between'. My hormones really wanted to take over my body. Because, I had the urge to close the distance between us with a -_

"Mr. Hikari, I hope you're paying attention." Roxas snapped back to reality and faced the front of the classroom. He felt all eyes stare at him and he didn't like it. Mr. Rush had a disapproving expression on his face before looking back on the board. Roxas sighed; today was going to be a long day.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it!

Reviews appreciated !! ;DD


	4. To the Mall !

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette (Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be OOC xP In this chapter, unexpected mentionings of RoxasNamine and, Roxas and another OC

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, and Jun

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, and shadowoflight22. :)

* * *

_**Chapter Three**_  
**To the Mall !**

The bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Students rushed out of their classrooms and there was a mad rush of students down the hallway as they all headed toward the exit. Among the students, was a blonde guy. He was walking fast with the mob of teens; he was trying to rush toward the sanctuary of his dorm. He was going to break for a run when he felt himself being pulled back.

"Whoa, what's the hurry, Roxas?"

Turning around, Roxas faced the people he feared to run into; Hayner was the one pulling him back. His last class was English and he didn't have that class with any of his friends. So, he was hoping he would be able to get away from them fast enough. But, his luck had run out; they were all grinning at him, "Time to meet your girlfriend, Roxas!"

"She isn't my girlfriend," Roxas was once again ignored and was being pushed and pulled toward the dormitories building. "Why do you guys want to see her so badly?"

"Oh please, Roxas," Selphie said from behind him, "if it were anyone else other than you, _you_ would be doing the same thing."

Roxas sighed. He didn't deny that because it was true. If Hayner or Riku had a girl for a roommate instead of himself, he would've been teasing them. But _no_, the situation was upon himself. Thank the gods for his luck. When they were finally out of the building, Kairi, Namine, and Olette were ahead of the other guys and Selphie. Roxas was putting more weight on himself so the others had to keep pushing and pulling him harder. It took them awhile, but they finally made it to the third floor of the dormitories. Wakka and Tidus had given up and had walked back outside to play some blitzball.

"We'll catch up with you guys later, we're going to check out Olette's new roommate," Kairi said, waiting behind Olette, with Pence, as she opened the door with her ID card and punching in her password.

The rest of the guys and girls continued to push Roxas as they neared the door. "Finally," Selphie exasperated, "dorm #317."

* * *

Joy was lying on her bed, leaning against the wall and using her pillow to cushion her back, writing in her little notebook. She was listening to her iPod and her kitten, Cookie, was sleeping in her little basket on the bed next to her. Abruptly, her peace with her music was shattered when her cell phone started beeping, _loudly;_ she had gotten a text. Sliding her phone open, she read _**'you have company'**_ It was from Amy. Joy raised an eyebrow at the text and was about to reply back when she heard a click from the door. Turning her attention to the door, she saw the door burst open as it did before, and there was Roxas. With him were all his friends that she saw him with earlier on today. Slowly putting her phone down, she pulled on the earphones making them slip out of her ears and she said, "Hi there?" 

It was an interesting site. Roxas was in the center of them, but in front, and his hands were stuffed in his pockets, looking the other way in embarrassment. Another guy to his right had dirty blonde hair spiked messily to the back of him, another with brown hair that was spiked up in all kids of directions, a guy behind him had silver hair with a blue tint to it and he was _really_ tall, and the last people with them were girls, one shorter than Joy and one her height, and one had brown hair that curled up in the back and the other was a blonde that had her long hair all to one side on her shoulder. They were all wearing the school uniforms. But, they all - excluding Roxas - had wide eyes and were staring at her and the brown hair girl was behind Roxas, and being kind of short, she kept jumping up and down.

"_You're_ Roxas' girlfriend?!" They all exclaimed, staring wide eyed at her.

Joy raised her eyebrow at them, "Who told you that?"

"I told you she wasn't my girlfriend," Roxas muttered to them, becoming more embarrassed. "Sorry Joy, they keep assuming you're my girlfriend since you're my roommate."

"Ah, interesting," Joy said. You could hear the laughter in the way she said it. She got up and walked toward them.

"Move out of the way, I can't see!" The short brown haired girl Joy saw pushed pass the other boys and was greeted with a girl with wide eyes staring at her. "Hi there! My name's Selphie, you must be Joy!" She quickly grabbed Joy's hand and started shaking it eagerly.

Joy laughed at her eagerness and knew she was going to be great friends with this girl. She put her other hand in the handshake and started shaking it up and down just as energetically as Selphie, "Nice to meet you, Selphie! Hope we become great friends!"

They grinned at each other and after awhile, laughed together as both let go of the handshake. Selphie turned around and pointed to each person, "Joy, that's Hayner, Sora, Riku, and of course you know Roxas, and that's Namine. Our other friends are three dorms down from here."

"Oh well, nice to meet all of you," Joy said, shaking each guy's hand, besides Roxas.

As Joy shook Sora's and Riku's hand, Hayner wrapped an arm around Roxas neck (in a guy way) and whispered in his ear, "You lucky bastard, you got a nice catch," and he started elbowing him in the side.

"Shut up, will you?" Roxas whispers harshly, blushing darkly.

After shaking hands with Namine, she noticed something about two particular guys. Looking from one boy to the other, the two boys stared at her in confusion and she continued to do the gesture for a moment. "What are you doing, Joy?"

"Hm," Joy hummed out. Next, she went right in front of Sora looking at his face. Sora leaned back with a disturbed expression and she did the same with Roxas. Roxas stayed the same way when Joy went in front of his face. But, he did stare back at her. It was a little strange to him because he suddenly got the _urge_ again. At last, Joy leaned back and asked, "Are you guys brothers or something? You have the same color eyes, except maybe Roxas' is a little more brighter."

Riku answered for them, "Nope, they're just cousins."

"But, we do get that a lot," Roxas said, grinning at her.

"Hey guys." The group turned around to find Olette, Kairi, Pence, and Amy behind them. More introductions and laughter, Joy and Amy found out that Kairi and Namine are half-siblings - they shared the same mother.

"Hey, any of you guys have homework?" Namine asks. The others shook their head, "How about we show our new friends the mall?"

* * *

The mall wasn't a far distance so the gang just walked there. The gang, besides Amy and Joy, went to change into casual clothes before their walk to the mall(A/N:They changed into the clothes they wore in KH2, Selphie wears the yellow dress). Joy and Amy were surprised when they found how big the mall was. Like the school campus, it was _**humungous**_. It had four floors and was the length of a baseball diamond. 

"Joy, Amy," Sora said, standing in front of them and spread out his arms, "welcome to Sunset Hill Mall."

"This place is _**huge**_!" Amy shouted out, staring at the many different stores.

"Yeah, but you get used to it," Selphie said.

"Do you guys usually come here on a regular basis?" Joy asked them.

"Usually. Mostly when we don't have homework," Roxas told her.

"So, where - " Without finishing her question, Joy was jerked forward and the next thing she knew, she was being pulled off to god knows where by Amy, her pulling on her arm, "WHOA!"

"Come on, Joy!" Amy yells out excitedly.

"Well, you guys go after the noobs and we'll go to the game store," Riku informed the others, walking in the opposite direction from the two girls with Sora and Pence.

"Let's all split up and meet at the arcade later!" Kairi shouted out, walking with Namine forward toward another store.

"Okay, see you guys later!" Olette waved them off.

"Come on, we gotta catch up with them," Selphie said hurriedly, running after Amy and Joy.

* * *

Both Hayner and Roxas were outside the A.C.M. store while the four girls were inside. The A.C.M. stood for anime, clothes, music store. Once she saw anime, Amy went crazy and grabbed Joy along with her. Olette and Selphie went in because of the other two girls, but also for the clothes. Hayner and Roxas thought the store was more of a girlie store, so they just waited outside. 

"Geez, how long have they've been in there?" Hayner cried.

"For awhile, I bet."

"Ugh, forget this! I'm going to the arcade, you coming?" Hayner was already starting to head toward the arcade.

"Nah. Selphie and Olette would get mad if we both left."

"Suit yourself," and with that, Hayner ran off toward the arcade, two floors up. The arcade was on the third floor; they were on the first floor. Riku and his group were on the third floor, and Kairi and Namine were on the second floor.

Inside the A.C.M. store, Amy was ogling at the anime like she would normally back home, "Look Joy! They're even selling yaoi!"

"Oh god," Joy heaved, slapping her forehead.

"What's 'yaoi'?" Olette asks her.

"Trust me, you don't want to know," Joy warned her.

Olette was looking with Amy for anime, getting interested in the subject, and Selphie had been looking at the anime dolls on display. And, who did that leave? Poor little ol' Joy. Joy loved anime and all, but she wasn't in the mood for shopping. Especially for clothes; she felt she had enough clothes at the moment, so she walked out of the store. She looked around and spotted Roxas sitting on the bench in front of the store. He waved and Joy smiled at him, taking a seat next to him. "Where's Hayner?"

"He went off to the arcade. Didn't want to wait for you guys."

"Really? I didn't know we took that long," Joy said to herself, putting a finger under her chin, thinking of how long they took.

Roxas chuckled at her, "Well, Hayner gets really impatient, especially when it comes to shopping that _he _didn't even want to come to."

"Oh," Joy laughed, and both smiled at each other. They both talked and joked around for awhile, sharing a laugh here and there. They didn't know how long the other three girls were going to take in the store, but both were hoping for awhile. (A/N:_Italic_ is Joy's P.O.V. and, **bold** and _italic _are Roxas' P.O.V.)

"_Why did the fish get kicked out of the school?" Roxas asked me._

_I didn't know. Curious, I asked, "Why?"_

"_Because he got caught with sea-_weed_!"_

_I laughed. It wasn't a _really_ funny joke, but it seemed original enough. He was funny, though. I liked him for that. He was smiling at me, I guess he was proud that he made me laugh with that kind of joke, "That was soo corny!"_

"_I know." That made me laugh harder. It felt so natural being with him. We just met, and I already feel like we've known each other for like ever. His smile. He still had his smile glued on his face. His smile made me feel a little funny on the inside. Ignoring the feeling of butterflies in my stomach, I giggled as he grinned._

___**That was such a stupid joke. I can't believe I even told it. But hey, it made her laugh. She had such a funny laugh, and I loved it. It wasn't loud like Selphie's and it wasn't soft, like she was pretending. And the best thing was that **_**I**_** made her**__** laugh. Not even Jun laughed at that joke.**_

_"__**You're funny, Roxas," I heard her say.**_

_"__**Really? Don't hear much of that," I said. It was true, I wasn't exactly funny. The gang thought I should just stick with the skateboarding.**_

___**Joy laughed again, "Well, **_**I**_** think you're funny." I looked over at her as she smiled after her little laugh. I saw her eyes twinkle as she smiled at me.**_

"Hey, want to get some ice cream? It doesn't seem like they're going to be finished any time soon." Roxas indicated to the three girls still in the store that had switched from anime to clothes. Joy looked over at her friends and nodded her head at Roxas. Both standing up, Joy followed Roxas to an ice cream parlor a few stores down. "Ever tried sea-salt ice cream?"

"Nope."

"Well, that's expected. Twilight Town is the only place that would have that flavor."

"Really? Is it _that_ good?"

"Way better than you could ever expect," Roxas said, mischievously.

"Hmm, okay, I'll try it," Joy decided as they walked into the semi-small ice cream parlor. "How much is it for one?" Joy asked, reaching inside for her pocket money.

Before she can get her money, someone had placed a hand on her arm, stopping her from reaching in farther. Looking up, she found that Roxas had stopped her. Joy gave Roxas a questioning look, "It's okay. I'll buy it."

"Oh no, it's okay! I have money," Joy started to protest, but Roxas shook his head.

"Just think of it as a welcoming treat from me," Roxas merely said, walking to the counter. "Two sea-salt ices please!" The woman behind the counter nodded and got the popsicles quickly. Roxas took the popsicles and paid, giving one popsicle to Joy. Joy stared at the popsicle in its plastic wrapper. It was **blue**, now _that_ was something new to Joy. She had never seen _blue_ ice cream. Opening it up, she pushed the ice cream up and took one small lick of it. She stared at the ice cream. While enjoying his own ice cream, Roxas looked over at Joy. He stared at her in puzzlement, _'She doesn't like it?'_. Suddenly, Joy took a bite of the ice cream.

"This is goood!" Joy giddily exclaimed.

Roxas laughed at her, "For a second, I thought you didn't like it."

"No way! It's soo salty - "

" - yet sweet," Roxas said for her. They both laughed and smiled as they walked back to the A.C.M. store, enjoying their sea-salt ice cream.

"So that's why they called it 'sea-salt' ice cream? Because it's blue like the sea and it tastes salty?" Joy questioned the blonde guy.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"JOY!" The two faced forward and found the three girls they left earlier running toward them. "I got like a _bunch_ of yaoi manga and anime!"

"Yeah, and I found out what you meant earlier," Olette said, almost gagging behind Amy.

"I warned ya," Joy told her, grinning.

"Eh? You two got ice cream without us??" Selphie cried.

Amy finally noticing the ice cream in their hands, she grabbed it out of Joy's hand, "New flavor?" Before she could take one lick of the almost half-eaten ice cream, Joy quickly took it back from her. "_Mine_!"

"Ehh? But, Amy wants some," Amy whined childishly.

"Come on, the parlor's just right there," Joy leaded Amy to the ice cream parlor that she and Roxas went to.

Selphie, Roxas, and Olette followed shortly. Roxas was in the middle and still licking at his ice cream when he was suddenly nudged in the side, "So, Roxas," Roxas looked at Selphie, "how was your _alone time_ with Joy?"

Roxas nearly chocked on the bite of ice cream he took, "What?"

"Oh, spill it, Roxas!" Olette speaking up on the other side, "We saw you two laughing together outside on that bench."

"Yeah! And when we saw you two walking, I bet your hand was just _itching_ to hold hers!" Selphie said excitedly, becoming really hyper.

Going back to eating his ice cream, Roxas sighed, but then he remembered something and looked over at Olette, "So, you ever going to confess to Hayner that you like him?"

Olette blushed immediately, "Shut up."

* * *

"So, what do you guys think of Joy and Amy?" Riku asked to break the silence between the trio. 

Looking at the back of a random game, Sora said, "They seem friendly."

"Roxas seems to really like Joy," Pence says, taking on a thinking pose.

"It's kind of obvious, the way they kept messing around with each other on the way here. It's like they've been friends for forever," Sora assumed putting away the game he had in his hand. "You guys think he forgot all about Jun by now?"

Pence stared hard at a game, "I don't think so. This is Roxas we're talking about. And you know, Jun really did hurt him."

"I never really liked her. She was a little too different," Sora felt a chill go up his spine, and he shuddered.

"Tell me about it. Just thinking about her gives me the creeps, I don't even know why he liked her."

"I know…think Joy's better for him?"

Pence thought about it for a moment, "I guess. At least she doesn't give me any weird feeling."

Noticing his silver haired friend leaning against the wall staring at the floor, Sora called out to him, "Hey Riku?"

The boy looked up at the mention of his name and suddenly asked, "What do you guys think of Amy?"

"Huh? Amy? Joy's best friend?"

"Yeah…"

"She seems like - in a way - a more matured version than Selphie," Pence answered, looking at the games on the shelves.

"Why do you ask, Riku?" Sora went up to his best friend.

"Just wondering," Riku replied back.

Sora didn't believe it. "You like her?"

"…No…"

"That's a lie," Sora declared and started grinning. "Riku's got the hots for Amy!"

In an instant, Riku put Sora in a headlock, "Oh really? What about you, Sora? Ever going to admit that _you_ like Kairi?"

"I - don't - like - her!" Sora struggled in Riku's hold.

"Now _that's_ a lie," Pence said, staring at the two. He laughed at the scene and took a picture. Pence had his camera everywhere with him.

* * *

Kairi and Namine had done their shopping for the day and were heading toward an escalator to get to the arcade. "So, you ever going to tell Sora?" Namine asked Kairi. Being half-siblings, Namine noticed Kairi having interest in the boy. 

Kairi's cheek reddened. She's had a crush on the boy since freshmen year, when she first met him. She'd always be planning to confess to him, but she always found herself chickening out. "I will, sooner or later."

Namine gave a small laugh, "It's funny how Sora still hasn't found out that you like him."

Kairi smiled in laughter, "Yeah, he's an idiot like that." After awhile of comfortable silence, she asked Namine as they entered an elevator, "You give up on Roxas?"

"Yup. When Roxas and Jun got together, I just gave up. And, its just stayed that way, even after they broke it off."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know really." Thinking for a moment, Namine said, "I guess it's because he acted more like a brother toward me."

"Ah, I see."

"But, you know," Kairi looked at the blonde artist, "I hope Roxas and Joy get together."

Kairi smiled at her and said, "They will, _eventually_." And with that, they exited the elevator toward the arcade. "You think Olette and Hayner will ever confess to each other?"

* * *

Hope you liked this chapter! Took me awhile xP 

Reviews greatly appreciated! It what keeps me motivated :)

**Critism** or _comments_ wanted ;D


	5. Her Own Reasons

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette (Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be OOC xP In this chapter, unexpected mentionings of Roxas and another OC

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Ms. Shao, and Jun

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, and strawberyla. :)_**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Four**_  
**Her Own Reasons**

_Joy Kane and Amy Vian are the new students at Twilight High Boarding School and in one day, has made a group of friends due to a little accident. Both are the age of 16 and in 11__th__ grade. Before they had come to Destiny Islands, they both had a promise in which they promised to each other; Amy promised to not make rash decisions and to not judge people by first impressions, and Joy had promised to not fall for any guy that she sees, no matter what, she was not going to love another again. Will they be able to keep their promises? Can Joy really not fall in love, _ever again_? She is avoiding the pain of love, but how far will she go just to avoid the grief? What about Roxas; he seems to be attracted to this girl. Will that attraction turn into something more? Or will he not even take one look at the situation? He's been hurt before, is he going to risk feeling it again?_

_These are the questions that are burning deep down within themselves. But what do their friends plan to do about this? The answers lie ahead._

* * *

It took them awhile, but Roxas' group finally made it to the arcade on the third floor. They would've been their earlier if it weren't for Amy and Selphie looking at nearly every store that had caught their eye. Entering the arcade, they were greeted with flashing and colorful lights. It was like they were at a club, except it wasn't. The game machines and other things proved that they were indeed at an arcade.

"_This_ is the arcade??" Amy flickered her eyes from game to machine.

"Wow, this place is ten times as _better_ and **bigger** than the one we have at my hometown. And mine didn't have the flashing lights either," Joy said, pointing at the lights dancing around on the ceiling.

Roxas looked at Joy with an amused expression, "Seriously?"

Looking up at Roxas since she was shorter than him by like three inches, Joy nodded her head, "Yup."

"Come on, I want to play DDR," Olette said, starting to walk ahead.

"Dance Dance Revolution?" Joy asked, her eyes gleaming.

Turning around, Olette replied, "Yeah, what else?"

Joy and Amy grinned and caught up with Olette, following her to the DDR machine. Roxas and Selphie soon caught up with them. Finding the pads available, Olette and Selphie put down their shopping bags, hopped on the dancing pads and popped in some quarters. "I wonder if the others are here yet," Joy wonders, looking around a bit.

"Well, if they're here, they'll find us. We always play DDR," Roxas informed the violet-eyed girl.

The '321 Stars' song started playing and the two players were dancing - they were playing on standard. "I knew you guys would take forever." The teens that weren't playing turned their heads and found Hayner, Kairi, and Namine walking over to them.

"Hey guys," Roxas greeted. Kairi and Namine had a bag each; it seems they didn't do much shopping. They were soon joined in by Riku's group and from there, some went off to other games while the rest stayed and waited for their turns for DDR. Today, the arcade wasn't really busy. So, no other people came to play the dancing game.

Olette and Selphie both went and cleared the song. Selphie ended up winning due to her hyper-ness and it made her keep up with the steps. Next was Kairi and Namine; Kairi ended up winning. And that's how it continued for the time being. Finally, it was Amy's and Joy's turn.

Roxas and Sora just finished their turn and as Roxas stepped down for Joy to get on, he told her, "Hey, don't lean on the handle bar too much, it's really wobbly."

"Got it," Joy nodded her head as she stepped on the pad.

"Hey Joy, let's do that dance we made up," Amy suggested, looking at the songs on the screen.

"Ehhh? But that dance is so embarrassing," Joy whined, putting her hands on her hips for emphasis.

"You guys made up a dance? We want to see!" Selphie said eagerly. The others also nodded their heads, wanting to see the dance.

Joy kept refusing, "Come on, Joy. It'll be fun," Amy pleaded.

Finally, giving in, Amy shouted in happiness and choose the song for their dance. They were on the heavy setting. "Waka laka?" The group asked.

The screen displayed the steps and it flashed, 'GO!' and the music started playing. Amy and Joy were dancing instantly as the song started. Their steps and the dance movements were in sync with the music and their selves that it looked as if they were dancing on a dance floor. And throughout the song, Amy and Joy were singing with the music, mainly doing the girl vocals. Near the ending of the song, Amy jumped around, facing the group and did the steps without looking at the screen with some hand movements and ended with her arms folded on the handle bar. Joy did the same thing, except her hand movements were different. As she placed her folded arms on the handle bar, the song ended.

Everyone stood in shock. Their dance wasn't professional, but it was better than what they expected. The friends around them applauded in amazement. The two friends grinned. Joy blushed in embarrassment from doing that dance, but despite it, she laughed as her friends clapped and cheered. Her eyes swiveled around before falling on Roxas. He felt her gaze on him and he gave her the thumbs up. She laughed and blushed.

Suddenly, she felt the handle bar start to wobble so she quickly got off it. She turned around to look at the scores on the screen. Both her and Amy got the same exact scores and the same grade, 'AA'. Amy jumped up and down in glee as Joy laughed at her and leaned back against the handle bar. _Big mistake_.

Failing to remember the unstableness of the handle bar, the bar snapped and it fell backward, bringing the forgetful Joy with it. She heard the snap, but didn't regain balance fast enough. No one was behind her for the moment, so the handle bar fell on the ground. But Joy wasn't as quick to react, and soon enough, she found herself falling backwards.

She couldn't believe she forgot already. And this fall can cause this girl back problems.

Fortunately, she won't have any. As she was falling, she fell into a pair of outstretched arms. "I told you," a guy's voice said next to her. Looking to her right, Joy stared at the toothy grin of Roxas.

Joy blushed both from embarrassment and, _Roxas_. Amy and Selphie looked at each other, an all-knowing expression on their faces. Hayner nudged Sora and they both started smirking at the two. "My bad," Joy said innocently, "I have short term memory loss," although, that wasn't true. A flash and the two turned their heads; Pence had taken another picture, but it was targeted at them.

Roxas lifted Joy back up on the dance pad, safely standing up. "Maybe next time, you'll remember when I warn you about something like this." Joy faced him and stuck out her tongue at him playfully. Roxas simply laughed at her.

* * *

On the way back to the school, the group found themselves taking the long way back, and that was through the park. It was only six 'o clock. But the group had separate conversations on a variety of topics. For example -

"Hey Joy," Selphie started, "is that your natural hair color?"

A bit taken aback from the random question, Joy smiled in a laugh and touched her pony-tailed hair, "To be honest, it _is_ natural."

"No way!" The other girls exclaimed, except for the exception of Amy.

"Yeah!" Joy assured them, "My mom has this hair color. It's a dominant trait in her family."

"That is so cool!"

"Does that go the same for your eyes? They're violet. That's an eye color I don't see much of." Namine asked from next to Joy.

"Yeah."

"You know, in a way, that's kind of _weird_." Joy faced forward and found Roxas in front of them, walking backwards.

"I know. That's why I like them," grinning, she continued, "because I'm special!"

"Yes, _you _**are**!"

"Thank - " Noticing his own grin, Joy realized what he meant. "Hey!" Roxas quickly ran off, grinning. Chasing after the blonde guy, the girls laughed at them while the guys up ahead watched in confusion.

"Looks like Roxas' is being chased around by a girl," Hayner joked.

A bit tired, Joy stopped for a second and shouted out to him, "Well you're hair makes it seem that you have to use a **whole** bottle of gel just to make into that hairstyle!" She was exaggerating a bit, but she didn't care.

"Hey! I don't even use gel! My hair is _natural,_" Roxas objected.

Joy's eyes broadened, "Seriously? Now _**that's**_ weird!"

At that moment, the group saw Roxas and Joy run pass them, but this time, Joy was being chased by Roxas. "Get back here, Joy!" They heard Roxas yell after her, trying to catch up to her.

"Seems the tables have turned. Roxas is the one chasing_ after_ the girl," Riku said in amusement. The group laughed at the couple.

Roxas had to admit, Joy was a pretty fast runner. But you could easily see that she was getting tired since she was starting to slow down. Smirking, Roxas picked up his pace and jumped, "Gotcha!" And they both tumbled to the ground next to each other. Joy's beret had fallen off her head as she and Roxas laughed their heads off.

Selphie, seeing the two first, said to the group in a voice that they only could hear, "hey, check it out! Roxas and Joy _fell_ in **love**!" The group laughed silently as they watched the pair. (A/N: For those that have forgotten **bold** and _italic_ is Roxas and Joy is only _italic_)

_**My laugh faded as I listened to Joy laugh. Her own unique laugh. I turned on my side to face her. Her laugh started to fade, but she still had a smile plastered on her face. I've noticed that she always smiles, like she never wants to see the negative side of things. Smiling 24/7. Nothing like Jun.**_

_I felt his stare on me. Looking at him, I blushed in humiliation because I thought he was thinking I had a weird laugh. I never liked my laughs, they were too loud and it doesn't really blend in with other laughs if I'm laughing with friends and family. I turned to him when I noticed he was still staring at me. He had on an easy smile. That's when I noticed how close our faces were, just like in the hallway. _

Suddenly, Roxas started leaning in closer. Joy didn't move as she saw him lean closer and closer, ever so slowly, almost hesitantly. Many thoughts were racing in the girl's head as her eyes expanded as Roxas got nearer.

_**I had that urge again and my hormones kicked in. I didn't know what I was doing. I was leaning forward -**_

_Is he going to - ?_

Roxas started getting really close to her face -

Joy still did not move an inch -

They were so close. _So close_ that they could feel each other's breathing.

_**This is it -**_

…_What am I doing?!_

Joy quickly sat up and blushed. She saw the group in front of the two on the path. It seemed they had stopped walking and had been watching the whole time. Roxas heard her sit up and immediately stopped his actions. Avoiding their eyes, Joy got up and dusted herself off. Amy was staring at Joy, at her actions, observing the situation.

"Aww, right when it was about to get good!" Selphie complained.

"Huh?" Joy dumbly said. _"Why did they have to see?"_

"Don't play innocent, there was something clearly about to happen," Kairi said with a sly smile.

Joy, blushing harder, responded, "I don't know what you guys are thinking, we just fell."

Joy felt something being put upon her head. Putting her hand on top of her head, she felt the material of her beret, "Yeah. This girl is so slow that it was too easy to catch up with her."

"Hey!" Blue-green hair faced blonde, "I'm not _that_ slow!"

Roxas grinned amused, "You wanna bet?"

"20 munny!" Joy exclaimed, "and begin!" And with that, she ran off toward the school building. (A/N: In the last chapter I used the word 'money' but I just recently remembered that in the game they called cash 'munny'. That's why the word changed)

"No fair! You got a head start!" He called out to her, running in the same direction.

'_That's right. We're only friends. That's how it's going to stay. I made a promise, and I'm going to keep it,' _Joy thought, her face still red as she ran to the dormitories.

"Did you see that?" Selphie asked the group as they walked at their own walking pace to the school campus. Roxas and Joy were too far out of ear-shot to hear the group.

"Yeah! Definitely something going on," Kairi said.

"Although, wasn't that basically rejection? She saw him coming toward her and that's when she sat up." Pence inquired.

"No, she wanted to kiss him, too. You could see it in her eyes," Sora said.

"Then, why'd she suddenly get up?" Kairi asked.

"Maybe she thought it was too early," Namine suggested. "It hasn't even been a full day that they've known each other."

"SO?!" Selphie cried out, "If people go on blind dates, they expect to get a kiss on that date! And note that they barely met."

"Yeah, but Roxas and Joy aren't on a blind date, remember that Selphie." Kairi told the shorter girl. The aforementioned girl just huffed in annoyance.

"She probably has her reasons for avoiding that kiss," Riku advised to the group, "We should see how this relationship unfolds. It's only been the first day."

* * *

He was catching up to her fast. _'Geez, he's fast,'_ she thought, trying to quicken her pace. They were almost at the building and she was in the lead. She was running, running more and more. Can she do it?

Five feet away…

Four…

Three…

Two…

'_I'M GOING TO WIN!'_

Roxas smirked and sped up his pace even more, running past her at the last moment, crossing the cracked line as a form of the end of the race. Joy widened her eyes at his speed and when she crossed the line as well, she nearly fell over in exhaustion. Putting her weight on her knees, she leaned over, "You're mean. Can you at least give me more of a warning when you're going to win instead of making me think I'm going to win?" Roxas laughed, as he panted a bit from the running.

After regaining his normal breathing pace, Roxas looked from Joy to the floor. _'What was I thinking before…?'_

Joy looked up at the fast runner that had suddenly gone quiet. She saw his expression turn into that of a sad, in deep thought one. Her brain flashed back to the incident at the park. She blushed again and shook those thoughts out of her head. Pulling out 20 munny, she went up to Roxas, "Here." Jerking his head up, he saw the money in her hand. He looked up at her in confusion. "It's the money that you won."

Roxas suddenly remembered the bet and immediately shook his head, "Keep it. I just wanted to prove to you that you were slow."

Joy was annoyed by his response and took his hand, putting the munny on it, "You won, _you _keep it. Just think of it as payback for the ice cream earlier."

After a few more attempts of trying to give the munny back, Roxas sighed at her stubbornness and pocketed the cash. Recalling how this bet started, he looked toward the ground again, in deep thought. _'Why did I do that? She probably felt uncomfortable about it. I should apologize,'_ Roxas concluded. Lifting up his head, he found that Joy had been staring at him.

Joy noticing that he had seen her staring at him, she looked the other way, toward the park. Roxas slowly took in a breath, "Joy?"

"Yeah?" Joy quickly looked over at him. She found herself avoiding his eyes.

"About earlier… I'm sorry that I - "

"It's ok!" Joy interrupted him.

Roxas gave her a puzzled look, "It is?"

"Yeah! I know you didn't mean to make me fall. I'm fine anyway! So don't worry about me," She replied.

"Wait, that's not - "

"I said 'don't worry'!" Joy insisted, and quickly turning around she saw the group that the two left behind closer to them.

"But, Joy - " Roxas attempted to say, but Joy had ignored him.

"Finally! You guys take forever!"

"Well, we were walking, unlike you two that _ran_ here," Amy yelled back to her. The group finally reached the two.

"Hey Joy, Amy, why don't you come in our room? We can talk about the school more and look over your schedules," Kairi suggested. She shared a dorm with Namine.

"Mm'kay, why not?"

* * *

All the girls in the group went into Kairi and Namine's dorm to discuss the school rules and what not. Their dorm was the same set up as any other dorm. Joy and Amy sat on Namine's bed, leaning against the wall. Kairi and Olette were sitting on Kairi's bed as Namine used her desk to sketch something in her sketch book. Selphie stood up, explaining everything about the school and teachers to Joy and Amy, and she kept talking and talking that the two thought she would never stop. On the walls, there were beautiful drawings, all signed by Namine. However, here and there were photos of the gang, which Joy was looking at, at the moment.

Amy had Cookie, the unique kitten, in her lap. The gang was all excited about the kitten and wondered how the two best friends were able to keep it as there was a rule that pets weren't allowed. Joy had explained that they didn't know that they had a kitten. But in any case, they were able to teach the cat to act as a stuffed animal if ever was about to be caught.

" - Ms. Shao is okay, but she's really strict. You never want to get on her bad side. If you do, the next time you get in trouble, she'll do everything she can to try and get you expelled. Yeah, I know, she's crazy like that."

"Hey, let me see your guys' schedules," Kairi requested, stopping Selphie from going on with her ever-so _fascinating_ explanation. Joy and Amy got out their schedules which Kairi looked over, examining each class they had. "Well, you two have the same classes except for your elective at third period. Joy, you have band class with Selphie, Roxas, Sora, and Riku. Amy has art class with Namine, Olette and myself."

"What about our other classes? Do we have them with you guys too?"

"Basically. Hey, Joy, would you look at that?" Kairi gave Joy a devious smile as Olette leaned in to look at their classes.

"What?" Joy titled her head.

"Oh my gosh, you have all your classes with Roxas! Even his English class!" Olette exclaimed.

Her eyes widened, "Seriously??"

"Yeah!"

'_Ugh! I thought I would be able to avoid him more in school, but we have the same freaking classes!'_ Joy sighed deeply. After what happened earlier in the park _and_ in the hall, she wanted to avoid him as much as she can. _'This is not going to help if I'm also sharing a dorm with him!!'_

" - first period Math you have all of us. Second period is chemistry with Roxas, Riku, and Namine. Third is band for Joy and art for Amy. Then it's lunch, fourth is history and you have that with Roxas, Riku, and Sora. Fifth is gym with all of us, too. And English is with Roxas."

"Are there any sports tryouts coming up soon?" Joy asked.

"Um, is there any?" Kairi asked Olette. Olette shrugged and they both turned to Selphie.

Selphie thought about it for a moment before saying, "I think Tennis is coming up."

"Oh yeah!" Kairi just realized. "We should try out for that!"

All the girls agreed. "When is tryouts?" Amy questioned them.

"I think it's in November," Kairi pondered the subject for a moment.

"Three weeks from now, isn't it?" Namine asked. Selphie nodded at her question.

"Hey, isn't the Halloween dance coming up, too?"

* * *

"So, Roxas," Hayner started, entering the dorm, "how'd you feel when you _almost_ kissed your future girl?"

Roxas didn't answer. He just walked into the room, and collapsed on his bed, face smashed into his pillow. "Hey, you still bummed out because she sat up right before you kissed her," Sora asked his cousin.

"It's not that," Roxas exasperated turning his head so they could hear him clearly, "it's the fact that she's starting to avoid me."

"How can you tell? It's only been five minutes since the incident," Pence inquired.

"Before, we would joke and stuff, but now she's avoiding what I say and she's avoiding looking at me," Roxas glumly answered.

"Roxas, it's only the first day. What were you thinking earlier?" Everyone looked at the boy that had suddenly said that. Riku just stood there, leaning against the wall, his hair in front of his face.

"I don't know. It just…happened," Roxas quietly said.

"Don't be so bummed out, Roxas. It is the first day, she probably just felt it was too soon or something," Hayner assumed.

Roxas didn't say anything and kept the same expression. "You really like her, don't you, Roxas?" The blonde's cousin asked him.

"**Love** at _first sight_," Hayner said, putting on a dreamy face.

Roxas threw a pillow at Hayner, right in the face. "Stop calling it 'love'," Roxas told the boy.

"Well, it's true!" Hayner exclaimed back at Roxas.

"It's not _love_," Roxas said in a defiant tone.

"Whatever Roxas. But I say, you should totally ask her out! You might as well anyway, you're going to be living with her for the next months of being here. It's going to be pretty awkward as it is."

"Did you not see her totally reject me not too long ago?" Roxas questioned the boy. Laying his head on the pillow, he said, "She wouldn't even let me apologize about it."

"Okay then, there you go! She was _okay_ with _you_ kissing her!"

"No, its not like that," his mind flashed back to his attempt of apologizing her, "it was like she wanted to avoid what happened. She didn't want to even say anything about it."

"If it's like that," Riku said, everyone's attention turned to him, "she probably has her reasons of doing what she did."

It was silent. Everyone pondered over this.

Silence.

Suddenly, Pence announced, "Well, there's one thing I know." Everyone looked at the camera boy, "She is _nothing_ like Jun."

"You got that right!" Hayner agreed.

"Is that suppose to be a good thing?" Roxas asked, looking over at him.

"No offense, Roxas," Sora started, "But she was kind of creepy."

It was quiet. "She kind of was, wasn't she?" Roxas finally asked, a tiny smile on his face. The guys laughed around him. _'I guess he is over her,'_ the guys thought.

"I still can't figure out what you saw in her," Hayner said to his best friend.

Roxas swung his legs over the bed, feet touching the ground. He looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching, "To tell you guys the truth…I don't know either."

Hayner laughed at his friend and took seat a next to him, "That's Roxas for you." The guys joined in the laugh as Hayner punched Roxas' arm playfully, "You are such a bonehead, Roxas."

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas' sarcasm made the room fill with laughter. He was starting to feel a little better, thanks to his friends. After a minute of laughter, it started to fade as they heard a resounding _click_ from the door. Turning their attention to the door, it swung open and in came Joy with her little kitten.

"Uhh, hi?" Joy walked in the room, closing the door behind her with her foot and walked over to her bed. Placing her kitten in its little basket, she asked, "No one was on my bed, right?"

"No, we barely took one look at it," Pence assured her.

"We didn't even go on that side," Sora said, scratching the back of his head.

"Oh, I see. Well, don't mind me, I'll just be sitting here," and with that, Joy sat on her bed, about to feed her little pet.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, who's classes are you in?" Sora asked her.

"Basically, I have all my classes with Roxas'," Joy bluntly said, continuing her feeding for Cookie.

"Seriously?!" Hayner exclaimed.

"Yes."

Hayner started elbowing Roxas. "That also means that you have some classes with the rest of us."

"Yeah."

Seeing the conversation not moving forward, the guys decided to leave. "See you two at dinner!"

The door closed and Roxas turned around to Joy. Joy had waved the guys off and when Roxas turned to face her, she quickly looked away and returned her attention on her little kitten. Joy was avoiding looking at him, and he noticed it. There was an awkward silence.

'_The story is going downhill._'

* * *

Hope you liked it:) Sorry I didn't get this out yesterday. I got a bit of writers block xP

You know the drill! Review please!

**Critism** and _comments_ are appreciated! ;D


	6. Comfortable

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette (Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, and Ms. Nahine

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, and strawberyla. :)  
Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes.

* * *

_**Chapter Five**_  
**Comfortable**

The next morning, Roxas woke up to find that his dorm was empty, except for Cookie in her little bed. Looking to his left, he saw a note placed upon the dresser:

_Roxas,  
I went early to breakfast with Amy, Kairi and Olette.  
I left at 7:20AM.  
Joy : )_

Roxas sighed gloomily. He felt neglected and was regretting what he did the day before. Turning his gaze, back to the clock, he found it was 7:50AM; school started at 9. Placing the note back on the dresser, he un-tangled himself out of his covers and slowly got out of bed. Grabbing a towel, he walked into the bathroom, grudgingly getting ready for school.

* * *

**7:30AM, Thursday.**

While eating her oatmeal, Olette looked over Amy's schedule. "Ms. Nahine is your Math teacher. She's pretty strange; she has a _deep_ obsession for cats."

"Cats?" Amy asks out of curiosity…_bizarre_ curiosity.

"Yes, cats. So, don't show her Cookie," Kairi warns.

"Remember that Joy," Amy starts, turning to Joy. That's when she noticed the violet-eyed girl staring at her bowl of cereal. She was stirring it subconsciously. "Joy?"

It seemed that Joy had not heard her or even bothered to pay attention for she continued to swirl her cereal. Out of nowhere, a spiky, yet long red haired guy appeared behind Joy, "Hey, you going to finish that?"

Joy still did not respond as Kairi grabbed her own spoon out of her sorbet and threw it at the unaware red head, "Axel, can't you see that her mind is somewhere else?!"

Rubbing the spot on his forehead where the silverware had hit him, he walked away slowly, "Sheesh, anger management." Unexpectedly, he came back, lifted Joy's hand higher, and took the bowl of cereal in his hands, "I'll just be taking this then…" And runs off to his table before anyone could react.

Finally realizing what happened, Amy exclaimed, "Who the fu- " (A/N: Cuss Word!)

"The name's Axel!" The red head shouted out to her before she could finish her outburst.

Ignoring him, Amy looked back at Joy who still mindlessly continued to stir her spoon, but this time in midair, milk dripping from the utensil. "Joy?" Once again, she did not respond. Amy was confused; in all her life of being _best_ friends with Joy, she'd never seen the girl so unresponsive unless she was busy reading or watching something she was interested in. But now, she had just let some guy just take her cereal, and she didn't even know it happened.

Kairi and Olette also noticed how Joy did not respond when Axel just ran off with her bowl of cereal. Olette called out to her, "Hey Joy?"

Amy started snapping her fingers in front of Joy's face, "Joy!"

"Huh, what?" Joy jerked her head up from her staring at the table and looked to Amy.

Amy sighed heavily, "What's up with _you_?"

"Nothing!" Joy said at once, "Why?"

"I've been saying your name for the past five minutes," Amy said, irritated.

"You've been stirring that spoon for the past _ten_ minutes." Olette told the girl.

"Oh," Joy realized her actions, and looked down at her spoon. Joy arched her eyebrow, "Where'd my cereal go?"

"You didn't even see Axel take your cereal way??" Kairi exclaimed.

"Someone took my cereal?" Joy asked, dumbfounded.

"YES!" Amy exasperated.

"Oh," Joy merely said, putting down her spoon. "I wasn't that hungry anyway." Moving her tray that she had used for breakfast away from her, she folded her arms and placed them on the table in front of her. She was about to go back to staring at the table, but noticed the three girls staring at her, "What?"

"You okay, Joy?" Amy asked her best friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Joy told her.

Amy didn't believe her, and neither did Kairi and Olette. Kairi asked her, "Is it about what Roxas did to you yesterday?"

Joy felt the burning in her cheeks again. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Oh come off it Joy," Kairi said, "You guys almost kissed yesterday!"

"No we didn't!" Joy lied. She knew exactly what happened the day before. She just didn't want her friends suspecting anything.

"You're lying, Joy."

"I'm not lying!" Joy protested.

"Stop denying it, Joy," Olette told her. "Tell the truth. We saw what happened and we want to know: why'd you avoid it?"

Joy gave a sigh. Her stubbornness could only last so long and she knew it was at its limit. But, she didn't want her new friends to know why she was doing all this.

"Why are you avoiding Roxas?" Kairi asked.

Joy wrenched her head to Kairi, "I'm not avoiding him!"

"Really now?" The girls turned their heads and found Riku and Sora joining the table with their breakfast. Riku continued, "Because last night, it seemed you were avoiding looking at his eyes."

Joy stared at Riku. He was right, and Joy knew it. At dinner the night before, she had avoided looking into his eyes for she was afraid that she would catch his eye and _something_ might happen. She didn't know what she was afraid of exactly, but she was scared of something. Riku noticed how the girl he was talking to had suddenly stopped protesting. That made him smirk on the inside because he knew he was right; he was _always_ right.

Joy's eyes drooped down to the table. Last night's events flashed back into her head.

_Amy and Olette dropped by and picked up Roxas and me for dinner. Whichever side he was on when we were walking, I stood opposite of him. I didn't want to stand next to him. I barely wanted to look at him. Having to look at him made me nervous and for some reason, it made my cheeks burn and my chest tighten a bit._

_Even when we got our dinners and sat at a cafeteria table with the rest of the gang, I sat in a seat next to Amy that didn't have Roxas in front of my eyesight. Whenever I looked at him, my mind would go to the moments that we shared, embarrassingly and awkwardly, together. Every time I had to look into his eyes so I could answer whatever question he just asked me when we ate, he gazed back into my eyes. His eyes showed an emotion that it filled my head with hope. Hope that made me think that he had some sort of feelings for me. The imaginary feelings that would make me do a stupid thing, like tell him that I - _

…_I'm doing it again…_

_I've only known him for a day, but I feel as if I've known him all my life. It's like we've been two close friends that saw each other every day. He made me laugh and smile, make my cheeks burn either in embarrassment, laughter, or playful hate. He made me feel stupid, and yet, he made me feel happy. This was a feeling that I can't exactly explain. The feeling felt similar, yet unfamiliar. It was a feeling that made my head feel light, made my chest tighten, and made my heart feel like it was about to burst out of my body. It gave me goosebumps each time I thought about it._

_Even though I feel like this, I feel like…like… I've done this too many times. I know I have this crush on him, and it's starting to climb into something much more. I feel so vulnerable like this. Like I'm going to get hurt again. I wish he wouldn't; something tells me he won't. I want to believe that, except that I'm still scared that he will. I've had crushes before and have been rejected by every single one of them, so no one can blame me if I'm acting like this. I know avoiding Roxas isn't really the best solution, and I feel a bit guilty about doing this. But, I don't know what else to do._

"I just don't know what to think anymore…" Joy quickly covered her mouth as soon as she realized that she had said that out loud. She looked up and found the others looking at her weirdly. "Um, I'll see you guys later."

Getting out of her seat rapidly, she heard Amy yell out to her, "Wait, where are you going?"

"I'm just going out for a bit. I still have time before class starts." And with that, Joy walked to the exit of the cafeteria. She was walking fast. She was walking so fast that she almost hit another student with a tray of food. Sidestepping to keep on walking and avoid walking into someone, she continued. Until she saw who had entered through the doors.

It was Hayner, Pence, and the person she's been avoiding, _Roxas_. The trio also saw her and waved hello. She faked a smile and waved back, and continued to walk past them as well as out the door. The whole time, she avoided her eyes from looking up at Roxas.

Unfortunately, Roxas had noticed. He stared after her until the doors were completely closed. He heaved a sigh before turning back around and heading for the breakfast line.

_As I walked out of those heavy weight doors, I felt the guilt in me grow. I'm sorry, Roxas. But, I think it'd be better like this. So, I don't get hurt and you won't get annoyed by me. Yes…I think it's better like this. Deep down, my heart thought otherwise. But, I didn't want to risk myself. A lot of things have already happened, I don't want to take those things and give myself false hope. I don't want to fill my head with these kinds of emotions. I don't want my heart yearning for someone that I know that won't feel in any way different than he already feels: just a friend. An image of Roxas appeared in my head and my chest tightened again._

_I'm sorry, Roxas._

* * *

(A/N: It's next thursday)_ A week has passed since I, Joy Kane, and my best friend, Amy Vian have enrolled in this school: Twilight High Boarding School, home of the Twilight Warriors. In the time we have been here, we have made a ton of friends. It surprised me a little because we were both kind of shy in a way. But Amy had an aggressive side to her that it's almost like a split personality. As for myself, I think I'm pretty nice, except when I playfully hit someone, I accidentally hit him or her _too_ hard and I end up apologizing many times._

_First off, Olette Miyagi is Amy's roommate and our age. She's a kind girl, but a bit of a tomboy. She has long brown hair and green colored eyes that show how intelligent she really is. She has a crush on Hayner Haruha, but she refuses to admit it. And Hayner is the same way. He's overzealous and eager when it comes to something he wants to do. Strong and street-smart, that's what he is. And even though he's a bit of a perv, we know that he likes Olette._

_One of Olette's closest friends was Pence Dular, a boy that acted like a brother to Olette and was skilled in electronics. He's a good-humored boy with an even temper and black messily spiked up hair, furthermore he always has a camera with him to capture whatever moment he was having with his friends. A girl with light blonde hair and deep blue eyes also dealt with pictures. But she was an artist, doing sketches every now and then in class, and drawing, coloring in her dorm. She has a passion for art, and anyone could tell. Her name was Namine Kocha._

_Riku, Sora, and Kairi were close friends, having been best friends since they were young. Kairi Kocha is a half-sister to Namine Kocha and is a girl with unique auburn hair and shiny blue eyes. She was a girl that loved to laugh, but takes most things seriously. She's had this major crush on Sora Hikari since they first met, but she's afraid to tell him for fear of ruining their friendship. Sora was the same, he's afraid to tell Kairi how he feels for her, afraid of what she'll say. Sora is a good-natured guy with spiky brown hair and sky blue eyes. Riku Kyoto was a tall boy with silver hair and emerald green eyes. Good at sports, he was very smart. My best friend is starting to have feelings for this guy, and our friends can tell that Riku has a _thing_ for Amy._

_Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka were three great friends that always wanted to do something fun. Selphie was a hyper and energetic girl. Tidus was a guy that loved to pick a fight with anyone that he didn't like. And Wakka always played blitzball._

_There were also seniors that Amy and I have met. Leon, who's real name is Squall, is reticent and often seems aloof. His girlfriend, Yuffie is a free-spirited and self-centered girl that is fun to hang around with. Her best friend, Aerith Gainsborough has a good-heart and is generally a kind girl. Her sister, Tifa, is equally nice but is not afraid to use force when necessary. Leon's best friend, Cloud, is a mysterious guy that seems to keep things to himself, like an enigma. It seems that Aerith and him are together, but I can't really tell much. They don't do anything._

_Other seniors that we know are Axel, the one that stole my cereal last week, Demyx who played the sitar and has short blond hair, Larxene who seems to flirt with every guy that she finds to her interest, Zexion that had blue hair, which I found interesting, and the guy that surprised me very much was Marluxia, the guy with pink hair. Still, I'm the only girl in this school with blue-green hair, which made me feel special. _

_Another group of seniors that me and Amy have met, but made enemies with were Seifer and his gang, which consisted of Fuu, Rai, and Vivi. Seifer is a confident, but troublesome guy. He has an ego that makes me hate him. Fuu, seems to be a quiet, mysterious girl. She only talked when she was directed at or when Seifer was insulted, and when she did talk, it only consisted of one or two words. Rai was a weird guy that always said 'ya know' at every sentence. And Vivi? Well, not too much to say except that I knew Vivi's a he._

_And who does that leave? The one and only, Roxas Hikari. The cousin of Sora and the guy that I share a room with. He was the first person to ever talk to me and Amy. It was due to an accident when we bumped into each other on the first day, and on the same day where we almost kissed. Roxas had gravity defying blonde hair and bright cerulean eyes that reminded me of the sky above. He was about three inches taller than me and seemed to like to poke fun at me. I had been avoiding him for the past week, but recently, I have talked to him more than usual. I was starting to get more comfortable around him, even though I had to keep reminding myself we're just friends._

"Hey Joy!"

"Huh?" Joy looked up and found Roxas looking at her with a peculiar look.

"We gotta go to breakfast," He told her. He was waiting at the door, and the door was wide open.

"Oh, whoops! Coming," Joy jumps up from her seat on the bed and quickly saying 'bye' to her kitten, she walked out the door with Roxas. Joy still felt strange when she walked next to Roxas, on the other hand, she felt comfortable being with to him.

Roxas became aware that Joy wasn't really avoiding him as much as before, he felt more cheerful now than he did last week. Glancing at her, he found her swerving her eyes from the ground, to the doors that lead to other dorms, the ceiling, just all around her. There was an undesirable silence hanging about them, so Roxas decided to strike a conversation, "So, Joy, do you like Twilight High?"

"Of course I do! Way better than my old school," Joy replied, smiling. Except, the smile wasn't aimed at Roxas, she was still facing forward.

"Oh, you getting more comfortable around here?"

"Yup."

Roxas paused before asking, "Getting more comfortable around…me?"

Now it was Joy's turn to be silent. _'He knew,'_ Joy thought, _'He knows that I've been avoiding him lately.'_ "W-what do you mean?"

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he answered, "You've been avoiding me lately."

Guilt increased inside of the girl. "I'm sorry, Roxas. It's just that…" Joy bit her bottom lip nervously. She didn't know how to exactly explain why she was doing it. "You just…last week…" Joy sighed and looked down.

Roxas saw how she was trying to answer and knew she was talking about the kiss. "I'm sorry… about… what I did before. I didn't mean for it to happen," he told her.

"It's okay…" Joy said slowly, before putting back on that smile, "We're friends, right?"

Roxas gazed at her. She had a smile on her face and she was finally looking at him. That smile…that smile made the corners of his lips tug up, "Right."

Joy nodded with him as they both entered the cafeteria. They both came at the time for breakfast when most people were up and about, so they had to wait in line like everyone else. The food was already displayed, so the students just picked off whatever they wanted to eat that day. Roxas was in front of Joy so he got two trays, one for himself and one for Joy. "Thanks," She said to him. Following behind Roxas, she looked at all the breakfast foods on display. "Hmm, what should I have today?"

"Beats me, you always get something that makes you smile throughout the whole day."

"True." That's when Joy passed by the breakfast sandwiches. "I had a sandwich yesterday…what are you getting, Roxas?"

"Hm, I think pancakes," Roxas said, reaching for a plate of pancakes.

"I don't feel like pancakes today," Joy passed by the pancakes and kept going. That's when she spotted it, a plate of French toast. "Hurry Roxas! There's only one more plate of French toast left!" Joy egged Roxas to go faster.

"Alright, alright! I'm going," Roxas told her, walking through the aisle quicker.

Joy finally was in front of the dish. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at its fluffy goodness. Reaching a hand for it, she couldn't wait to bite into it. Roxas was next to her, getting a small plate of eggs. He was about to reach for a small plastic bottle of syrup when he heard, "Hey!" Turning back to Joy, he found that Seifer had taken the plate of French toast, and Joy's hand was still outstretched.

"Sorry, you're too slow," Seifer smirked at the angry girl.

"Come on, Seifer, I was here before you."

"So?" Seifer laughed with his goons behind him at the angry girl.

"Leave her alone, Seifer." Roxas said sternly, standing between Seifer and Joy.

"Oh? Check it out, Roxas' got a _girlfriend_," Seifer teased him.

Before Roxas could say anything back, he felt Joy tugging on the back of his collard shirt. "Ugh, forget it, Roxas. That plate isn't even worth it since Seifer touched them!" Joy said to him and glared at Seifer. Turning back around, she grabbed a plate of eggs and bacon, and pushed hers and Roxas' tray along. "Come on Roxas!"

Roxas and Seifer had a stare down before Roxas stalked away toward Joy. Picking up whatever dish she could get before Seifer caught up with them, her and Roxas walked out of the line. Looking down at her tray of food, Joy had ended up with eggs, bacon, hash brown, and waffles. Turning to Roxas' tray, she saw that he only had pancakes and eggs. She was rushing them through the aisle that she forgot that Roxas would've wanted get to something else. "I'm sorry, Roxas! Did you want something else for breakfast? I'll go get it," Joy asked the guy.

Roxas merely shook his head and smiled at her kindness, "I didn't want anything else anyway."

"Roxas! Joy! Over here!" The two turned and found Hayner waving them over. Quickly grabbing a seat next to each other on the table, they found that they were the last ones to come for breakfast. The gang, plus some of their senior friends, was a large number, so they put three round tables just so they could all talk to each other.

"What took you guys so long to get here?" Kairi asked the pair.

"Seifer took the last plate of French toast from me," Joy whined, stabbing a fork in her waffles and taking a bite out of it.

"Seifer bugging you again?" Hayner said, "Urgh, I swear, I'm going to beat that guy up someday."

"It's okay, I'm not going to let him bother me," Joy said, grinning with a piece of bacon hanging out of her mouth. Everyone laughed at her, Roxas included.

Not knowing if the girl was comfortable enough with him, he reached for the piece of bacon and started tearing it from her teeth. "You're so weird, Joy. Chew and swallow you're food next time before you talk."

_I chewed and swallow like he said before sticking out my tongue at him. He chuckled at me and poked my forehead. I rubbed my forehead and stuck out my tongue at him again, making that farty sound with it. I saw the spit go right on his face, and I immediately stopped. I didn't mean to spit. "I'm so sorry," I said to him, hoping he wasn't made at me. He got his napkin and wiped the spit off, then threw the used napkin at me. "Hey!" I grabbed the napkin off the floor and stuffed it down his shirt._

_Oh yeah, I was definitely feeling more comfortable around him._

* * *

"Hey Amy, can I borrow your scrungy?" They were in fifth period, Gym class. They were all doing warm-ups before the Gym teacher came out. Both the guys and girls wore the same gym clothes: white shirt with the school's logo in blue, and the shorts were blue as well with the logo in gold. 

Amy handed Joy her scrungy and they both got ready for warm-ups with the rest of the gang. Stretching out her arms, Joy heard Hayner say, "Hey, look at that!"

The group turned their heads in the direction Hayner was looking at but only found other students either stretching or already doing their warm-ups. "Look at what?" Roxas asked his best friend.

"That girl has a nice butt," He bluntly said.

Everyone rolled their eyes at him and went back to stretching. Joy slapped him upside the head, "Quit being a pervert!"

"Ouch! Sheesh, you can't blame me, I'm a _guy_!" Hayner exclaimed. Olette whispered something to Kairi, which made her shake her head and glare at Hayner.

"So? They are, too," Joy said, pointing at the other guys, "You don't see them checking out some random girl's butt."

"That's 'cause they have their eyes on their own girls," Hayner said, waving the other guys off. He didn't see it, but Olette frowned at him.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked, confronting the dirty blonde.

"I mean, _you're_ not going to look at a hot girl's butt because you already have your eye on," Hayner made Sora's face Kairi who was doing her sit-ups, "that piece of candy."

Sora immediately blushed and proceeded to pulverize Hayner. That's when they heard a loud whistle. The shrilly sound rang through students' ears as it sounded throughout the black top we call the P.E. grounds. The students turned their heads in alert.

The Gym teacher was here.

"Come on you lazy bums! 30 push ups!" The Gym teacher was Mr. Lancer, but he preferred to be called Xaldin. He was really strong, and expected his students to be as equally fit. All the students got in position and started doing their push-ups. "You call those push-ups?! Lower your butts, better positions, and straighter backs! Start all over! 30 push ups!"

The whole class groaned. Warm-ups were the worst. It consisted of thirty push-ups, twenty-five sit-ups, and fifty jumping jacks. If you did the wrong position, or did the warm-ups with bad posture throughout the whole period, Mr. Lancer made you do suicides for the rest of the period.

"I hate warm-ups," Amy muttered to Joy next to her.

"I know… at least we're getting stronger arms for tennis," Joy said to her, being optimistic.

"Since I'm in a good mood today, I'm going to give you great news." The teacher stayed silent before yelling out, "Forty sit-ups! And I'm going to raise the number of laps to seven!" He was responded with groans. "This isn't a jungle! Forty sit-ups! GO!" After repeatedly doing forty sit-ups and jumping fifty jumping jacks, all the students collapsed to the floor. "You pathetic losers! All tired out already?" No one answered to him. All the students were panting and breathing hard. Xaldin stared at the students before sighing heavily, "Ten minutes." With that, Xaldin walked away.

"He – is – so – harsh!" Amy panted out. She was on her butt, breathing hard.

"I know!" Heavy breathing, "I'm barely lasting. I don't think I can even make the run…" Joy said to her.

"Well, at least we're not doing pull-ups," Selphie told the two, trying to find the bright side.

"Ha! I can't even do three pull-ups," Joy scoffed.

"Three? I can't even do one!" Selphie cried out.

"That's because you're weak!" Tidus exclaimed at her.

"Shut up, Tidus!" Selphie shouted at him.

"Hey, I just noticed something." Kairi said.

"What's that?" Sora asked her, still panting a bit.

"The Halloween Bash is this upcoming Wednesday."

"Oh my gosh! I almost forgot about it," Olette said. "What are you guys planning to dress up as?"

"I'm thinking vampire," Selphie informed us, imitating a vampire with its wringing hands and creepy grin.

Joy laughed at her, "All you're missing Selphie is the fangs and cape."

Selphie grinned and questioned the girl, "What's your costume, Joy?"

"Hm? I don't know. Haven't really thought about it." That's when Joy asked, "You don't need dates for this dance, do you?"

"Nope. Not the Halloween Bash. You could if you want to, but most people don't. It's just a dance anyway," Namine notified Joy.

"Okie dokie," Joy said, grinning.

"I think I'm going as an angel," Namine suggested to herself.

Kairi nodded her head at her, "You should Namine; you already have that white dress."

"All you need is a halo!" Selphie said excitedly.

"I'm coming as a pirate," Hayner told the group. "Argh, me matey," He said, trying to mimic a pirate's voice, but failing miserably.

"Don't be a pirate, Hayner," Roxas advised him.

"Well, if you're so certain, what are you going as?"

Roxas shrugged at him, "I don't know. Whatever I find at the last minute."

"How about we go costume shopping later?" Olette suggests.

"I can't," Joy says to Olette, "Ms. Nomura dumped me with an English project yesterday and I need to get started on it."

"Me too," Roxas said shortly after.

"Oh yeah, you're my partner," Joy recalled and laughed quietly.

"Yes," Roxas said, "I can't believe you forgot already. We were talking about it yesterday."

"Most of us have homework today, Selphie. Don't forget about that math test tomorrow." Kairi told Selphie, who pouted a bit.

Joy and Roxas ignored what Kairi had said and continued to be in their own conversation, "It's not my fault, a lot has happened today. How could I not forget?"

"By being smart," Roxas bluntly said.

Joy looked at him confused for a second, before exclaiming, "Are you calling me 'stupid'?"

"No," Roxas lied, avoiding looking at her eye. He was smiling in laughter.

"LIES!"

"Oof!" Roxas was pounced on from behind by Joy. She had an arm clutched around his neck, almost choking him, Roxas was preventing that from happening by grabbing her arm. But she was strong, and grabbed his shoulder so her arm would stay in place, despite _his_ hold on her arm. "Let go, Joy!"

"Not until you say that I'm _way_ smarter than you!"

"The lovebirds are at it again," Selphie quietly said to the group.

As Roxas and Joy continued to wrestle with each other, Kairi asked Amy, "So, I'm guessing Joy isn't going to avoid Roxas anymore?"

"Ya, I've noticed that, too." Wakka said, "She's been talking to him more lately, ya?"

Amy laughed, "Okay, I'm going to make this clear for you guys. Joy can never have a grudge against anyone, no matter what they did. She can never even stay mad at someone for too long. So, she can't avoid a person for more than two days."

"She can't get a grudge?" Hayner couldn't believe it. So far, all the girls he's met has always had a grudge on something, or someone, mainly him. "That's something you don't see everyday."

"Kane! Hikari! Stop horse playing!" Xaldin was back. Roxas and Joy immediately separated. "You two are running 10 laps!"

Joy's jaw dropped and her eyes widened in shock. _'What the he-'_

"You know the rules; no horse playing. Now, GO! Seven laps! Ten laps for the misbehaviors!" Then, he blew on his whistle, signaling the students to run.

As the gang ran, Joy muttered to Roxas, "It's all your fault, Roxas."

"My fault? I'm not the one that started it," Roxas replied to her.

"Yes, you did! You lied to me _and_ insulted me!"

"So?" Roxas looked at Joy's expression and upon seeing it, started running faster.

"**ARGH**! GET BACK HERE YOU **LIAR**!" Joy ran after him at full speed, just to try and catch up with him.

Their friends laughed in the background, "Yeah, things are definitely going to be better now."

* * *

Hope you liked it! Sorry it took awhile. xP 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I need **critism**! To be a _better_ writer!

Although, compliments are wanted as well ;) Pretty please?


	7. What ?

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette (Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Ms. Teddy and Ms. Nomura

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, and strawberyla. :)  
Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Six**_  
**What?**

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

"I'm_ thinking_! Quit with the tapping," Joy exclaimed at Roxas from her bed.

"Well, you're not saying anything," Roxas replied to her stopping his tapping with his pencil.

Joy and Roxas were in their dorm working on the English project. The English project was to write out a five-page skit, then on the due date, they would perform the skit memorized while the teacher would grade the skit as they perform. Roxas was on his own bed, laying on his stomach and he had a blank sheet of paper in front of him, a pencil in his hand, while Joy was sitting on the floor and leaned against his bed, Cookie in her lap. "Ugh, why does this project have to be like a drama class project?"

"I don't know."

"Well, what should we write about?"

"Fighting?" Roxas suggested.

"No," Joy rolled her eyes at him, "Something school appropriate and something that _we_ can do."

"Can we at least make it funny then? I want to laugh back on this in the future." Roxas said, resting his head on his arm.

"A comedy? Hmm…" Joy stared intently at her cat, but she was thinking of what to do for her project. That was how it was going to be, Joy thought of how the skit would be laid out while Roxas wrote it all down. It was because Roxas was not good in English class. That's when a light bulb lighted in Joy's head, "I got it!"

* * *

"Next, Ms. Kane and Mr. Hikari. Would you two please come up and give me your skit," Ms. Nomura said from her desk. Once Joy had given the five-page skit, she went to the front with Roxas. "You may begin." 

Roxas and Joy inhaled deeply before facing each other. Joy smiled at the thought of her skit, and Roxas smiled with her. Both nodding to each other to indicate the other was ready, Roxas started.

_Roxas: Introduce me to your family, Joy._

_Joy: Okay, Roxas. But I'm warning you, they have funny names._

_Roxas: Really, like what?_

_Joy: Like my distant cousin over there, Shelene. _

_Roxas: She only has one leg?_

_Joy: Yes._

_Roxas: Oh, what's her name?_

_Joy: No, that's my sister's name._

_Roxas: What's your sister's name?_

_Joy: Yes._

_Roxas: Huh?_

_Joy: That's my brother's name._

_Roxas: What?_

_Joy: What's my sister's name._

_Roxas: That's what I would like to know._

_Joy: I'm telling you._

_**PAUSE**_

_Roxas: Okay, tell me each name of your family members._

_Joy: Let's see… What's my sister's name - _

_Roxas: I don't know._

_Joy: No, that's my cousin's name._

_Roxas: Huh?_

_Joy: That's my brother's name._

_Roxas: What's your brother's name?_

_Joy: NO! What's my sister's name!_

_Roxas: I don't know!_

_Joy: My cousin is deaf, she can't hear you._

_Roxas: What?_

_Joy: My sister's in the kitchen. Do you need her?_

_**PAUSE**_

_Roxas: This is your family, right?_

_Joy: Of course._

_Roxas: You don't know their names?_

_Joy: I should know._

_Roxas: Okay, who's your brother?_

_Joy: Yes._

_Roxas: I mean his name._

_Joy: Who._

_Roxas: Your oldest brother._

_Joy: Who._

_Roxas: That guy right there._

_Joy: Who!_

_Roxas: The guy drinking -_

_Joy: Who is he!_

_Roxas: I'm asking YOU who is he!_

_Joy: That's his name._

_Roxas: That's who's name?_

_Joy: Yes._

_Roxas: Then, tell me._

_Joy: That's it._

_Roxas: That's who?_

_Joy: Yes._

_**PAUSE**_

_Roxas: Look, that's your oldest brother, right?_

_Joy: Absolutely._

_Roxas: Who's your oldest brother?_

_Joy: Yes._

_Roxas: When you send him a letter, who gets it?_

_Joy: He reads it right away and sends me a letter back._

_Roxas: The guy that gets it…_

_Joy: That's right._

_Roxas: He checks the mail…_

_Joy: Well, sometimes I don't know gets it._

_Roxas: You don't know who gets it?_

_Joy: No, not 'you don't know' its I don't know._

_Roxas: Who's your sister?_

_Joy: No, What's my sister._

_Roxas: Huh?_

_Joy: That's my youngest brother._

_Roxas: I'm not asking who's your youngest brother._

_Joy: No, who's my oldest brother._

_Roxas: One person at a time!_

_Joy: Then don't change my family members._

_Roxas: I'm not changing nobody!_

_Joy: Calm down, Roxas._

_Roxas: I'm only asking who's your brother's name._

_Joy: That's right._

_Roxas: Ok._

_Joy: Alright._

_**PAUSE**_

_Roxas: Who's that guys name right there?_

_Joy: No, that's Huh._

_Roxas: Huh?_

_Joy: Yes._

_Roxas: What?_

_Joy: She's in the kitchen._

_Roxas: Who's in the kitchen?_

_Joy: No, who's over there!_

_Roxas: Who's over there?_

_Joy: Yes._

_**PAUSE**_

_Roxas: You know I'm a nice guy, right?_

_Joy: Of course._

_Roxas: So, if I was going to meet your brother, I meet who?_

_Joy: That's the first thing you said right, Roxas._

_Roxas: I don't even know what I'm saying!_

_Joy: Meet Who._

_Roxas: I don't know._

_Joy: That's my cousin. You want to meet her?_

_PAUSE_

_Roxas: Let me get this straight: What is in the kitchen, Who's over there with Huh, I don't know is sitting next to Shelene._

_Joy: Yes!_

_Roxas: I don't get it._

_Joy: Hm?_

_Roxas: I said 'I don't get it'._

_Joy: Oh, that's my mom's name._

By the end of it, the whole class was laughing their butts off. Both Roxas and Joy looked at their teacher and saw her laughing into a handkerchief. Looking at their paper, they saw the grade: _A-._

Joy quickly looked at Roxas who said, "A-? I'll take it!"

The two grinned as they high-fived each other and faced their audience. Roxas did a bow and Joy curtsied as the students in their class continued their laughter and clapping. Suddenly, Joy was spun around and felt arms wrap around her. Looking up, she found Roxas hugging her. "R-Roxas?"

"Thanks for the 'A', Joy."

"Um, you're welcome?" Joy said, patting him on the back as he continued to hug her. She felt her face flush.

He stepped back from the hug, but had his hands still on her shoulders. "Seriously, if you weren't my partner, I bet I would've been failing this semester." He was staring directly in her eyes. Joy felt her cheeks redden even more. Nonetheless, she grinned at him, trying to hide the fact that she was blushing at him.

_He's doing it again. He made my chest tighten and he's making me blush like crazy! I wish he would stop doing that to me! His eyes…they're giving me that same look, like usual. I'm not sure if he's given other girls the same look, but it's making my legs feel like jello when he smiles like that._

_**I couldn't help it. I was too stuck in the moment that I just had to hug her. It was my first 'A' in English class. Joy was really good in English, and when I heard she was my partner, I was excited. I couldn't help noticing that we spent more time together in the past few days. I've seen her smile more toward me now, and every time she smiles, it makes my heart all warm and fuzzy. I know, **_**mushy.**

"No problem!" And with that, the duo went back to their seats which was next to the window, Joy sat in front of Roxas.

"That was awesome, Joy!" Amy said from next to her.

"Next is Amy Vian and - "

And that's how it was for the rest of the class, performing skits and laughing. Then the bell rang signaling the end of class and the end of school for the day.

* * *

_I've been watching Joy and Roxas lately. Right after Joy had officially stopped avoiding Roxas, they've both been more closer together. More happy, well, at least in my opinion. As Joy's best friend, I think I'm right about this; Joy can't keep her promise. Sooner or later, she's going to be with him. I can tell. Every time she's looking at him, her eyes give off a longing feel and when they're both smiling at each other, it's so cute that you could feel the love within them. If you looked at a photo of them, you could feel the love radiate off the picture. And I could tell that Joy is starting to fall for him, __**hard**__. I see her blush whenever he's around and he does something embarrassing to her or with her. And when we talk, I always find her talking about Roxas; about what they did, how he's so _adorably_ stupid, and she even talks about him indirectly. Even when she's had other crushes, she's never acted like this._

_Roxas too. Hayner told me that he has a major crush on Joy, but it's pretty obvious without telling me. He's always messing around with her and trying to talk to her every chance he could get. Whenever she's alone, he'll get the chance to be with her. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he was already in love with my best friend. It wouldn't exactly be a surprise. I just hope he won't hurt her when they get together. Oh, when will they get together? Who knows? One thing's for sure, they will eventually. Once Joy stops lying to herself and Roxas' stops with his comparisons, then it'll work out._

* * *

"Hey Joy, raise your side higher," Kairi commanded. 

"Like this?" Joy lifted her side of the banner higher up on the wall.

"Perfect!"

The gang was in the gym putting up decorations and booths for the upcoming Halloween Bash. They all had volunteered, most of them by will, others by force. Pence was in the yearbook club, Tidus was in kendo club, and Wakka was at Blitzball practice, so those three boys were out for the moment.

"Please tell me why we're here again," Hayner complained to Roxas as they both were putting up cobwebs.

"Because Olette and Kairi would've hurt you if you didn't come and help out," Roxas informed the dirty blonde.

"But why? The dance is five days away. There's no one else here even helping out! What's the point?"

"That's _exactly_ the point, Hayner!" Hayner turned his head to the source. The voice belonged to Olette, "No one's here besides us, if we don't set up the dance, who else will? You don't want a dull Halloween Bash this year, do you?"

"Tch, whatever." That's when Hayner went back to his cob webbing.

"Think of it this way, Hayner," Sora started, "At least we'll know where everything is so we won't get scared."

"Ha! Like I can ever get scared of some stupid Halloween dance." Hayner waved off the idea as he put a fake spider on one of the webs.

"Wow, this is _sooo_ high up!" Everyone whipped their heads to the loud voice. That's when they noticed their blue-green haired friend on a small ledge in the wall, far above the floor of the gym. A tall ladder was in front of her, "Hello down there! I'm taller than all of you!"

"That's 'cause you're on that ledge!" Roxas countered.

"What are you doing up there anyway, Joy?!" Olette shouted to her.

"Selphie told me to put up these fake pumpkins on this ledge!" She responded loudly to them, pointing down below at Selphie who was going up the ladder with a pumpkin in her hand. "Although, I think she could go use some help!"

"I sure could use some!" Selphie hollered at them. Amy was down on the floor, holding the ladder in place.

"I'll help," Roxas volunteered, running towards the ladder.

After a few minutes of debating, Amy still held on the ladder to steady it, while Roxas was near the top handing off the pumpkins to Joy who set them up on the ledge. Selphie would step off the ladder and climb back on and up a few steps and pass on the pumpkins to Roxas.

After awhile, the group of friends heard footsteps of heels. "Alright kids, that's enough for today! Thanks for your help!" It was Ms. Teddy. She was in charge of all the dances and other activities of the school. She was a kind teacher that cared about all her students and knew how to run things. She has short curly blond hair and lively brown eyes. She was a very fun and energetic teacher from what Joy can tell. "Joy, be careful when you climb down that ladder, you too Roxas. Hold on tight to that ladder, Amy."

"Yes, ma'am!" The three exclaimed to her.

Roxas quickly climbed down the ladder and once he was on the floor, yelled to Joy, "Come on, Joy!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Joy yelled back at him. As she was about to get on the ladder, "Don't look up! I'm wearing a skirt, you dork!" She barked at him.

"Ok, I got it, just hurry up," Roxas replied to her as he rolled his eyes.

As Joy descended down the ladder, Roxas was at the bottom staring up, but was a few steps away from the ladder so he wasn't really looking up at her skirt. When she was at the middle of the ladder, Joy spotted something near her hand. She shrieked at the sight of it and immediately let go of the ladder.

"JOY!" Roxas shouted as he saw Joy lose her balance and start falling. Everyone turned their heads to the sudden outburst and widened their eyes in horror.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was like they were in slow motion. Joy was falling and everyone else stood there and watched, mouth agape. That's when Roxas stretched out his arms and quickly caught the girl. Roxas stumbled a bit from the force of the fall, but quickly regained his balance. Everyone let out a breath they've been holding and sighed in relief.

Opening her eyes that she automatically closed within nanoseconds of the fall, Joy saw concerned blue eyes staring at her. "Joy, are you ok?"

Her hands had fallen over her stomach instead of the proper position of having it around her savior's neck. "I t-think so…" Joy stuttered out, seemingly shocked from the fall. She was still staring at Roxas.

"Why'd you let go of the ladder, Joy??" Amy asked the fallen girl.

"…I saw a…a…"

"'A' what?!"

Joy lowered her head and said something very softly. Amy had to lean in just to hear her. The others ran over to the scene. "What happened??" Ms. Teddy.

Roxas was the one that answered since Joy was still mumbling to Amy on how she fell, "She let go and lost her balance."

"Why in heavens name did she let go?"

That's when Amy stood straighter and said, "She saw a spider."

* * *

Hope you liked it! 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I need **critism**! To be a _better_ writer!

Although, compliments are wanted as well ;) Pretty please?


	8. Halloween Bash

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, BlackGarden14, and Ms. Teddy

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, and strawberyla. :)  
Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Seven**_  
**Halloween Bash**

_Today's Sunday, just three days before the Halloween Bash. The girls and I are at the mall, looking for Halloween costumes. The guys aren't here because we didn't want them to see our costumes. It was all _their_ idea! Selphie wanted to surprise Tidus with her costume, and Kairi and Olette thought it would be fun and they agreed. Namine, Amy, and myself thought it would be interesting so we went along with it. The gym is all set up for the dance, all that was missing was the food. But Ms. Teddy said she got it covered so we didn't have to help out anymore._

_Since the fall on Friday, it's been pretty interesting. Roxas would always tease me about my fear on spiders and all, but every time I looked like I was going to fall, he would be right next to me in a nanosecond._(A/N: **Bold** are flashbacks)_  
_

**Joy and Amy were in Joy's dorm, Joy on her chair and Amy was on the bed, petting Cookie.**

"**I think Cookie's getting fatter," Amy said.**

"**Really?"**

**When Joy got closer to inspect Cookie, Amy poked Cookie and she suddenly let out a loud hiss, causing Joy to jump and lean back in her chair. But she leaned back too much and the chair started falling backwards. "Oh my - "**

**Instantly, Roxas appeared behind Joy and pushed the chair back on all of its wheels. "Do I need to be there every time you're falling?" Roxas said playfully while grinning at Joy. Joy stuck out her tongue at him.**

_I thought it was sweet. He was looking out for his friend. It made me smile, because he was doing it towards me. Even though I know it's not because he likes me or something, I can't help but wish he did. You know, I've gotten closer to him than I've ever had in the short time we've spent together. Sure, we don't know every single detail about one another, but I've spent enough time with him to know his habits, his personality, his laugh, his smile, his toothy grin, just everything about him _now_. And I think it's the same way for him. I'm so open like that. Even if he doesn't, I'm just happy I know _him_ well._

"Hey Joy, what about this?" Kairi asked Joy as she held out a bunny costume for girls against her body.

"Hmm, it looks cute. But, I think it's better for a more _Halloween_ theme kind-of costume," Joy giggled at her own way of explaining things.

"I guess," Kairi said shrugging, hanging the furry costume back up.

"Yes! They have it!" Joy heard Amy exclaim. Both Joy and Kairi turned around to meet wind as Amy raced to the changing rooms to fit on whatever costume that she found interesting.

"Uh, I guess she found something," Joy blankly said.

"Uh-huh," Kairi faced the other girls nearby, "Hey Namine, did you find a halo yet?"

"Not yet. All the halos I found were already attached to another costume. How about you guys? Find a costume yet?"

"No, not yet." Kairi replied to her.

"There's nothing here that interests me yet," Joy explained to her.

"Oh, well I hope you two find something soon."

"Yeah. It seems that Amy has already found her costume, and Selphie already got her vampiress costume."

"Where is Selphie?" Namine asked, looking around for the brown haired hyper girl.

"She's helping Olette find a costume," Kairi answered this time. "She doesn't know what to wear this year."

Joy started looking around some more when she saw a pair of white wings, "Hey Namine, you could wear this with your costume, can't you?" She held up the wings for Namine to see. Namine's eyes sparkled as she stared at the wings. She slowly took them from Joy's hands and said, "This is _perfect_. Thanks Joy!"

"Your welcome. That way, you don't have to wear a halo. The wings are a huge give away," Joy told her, grinning at her own good deed. At that moment, Namine walked over to the cash register to pay for her wings.

Joy and Kairi continued looking around the store some more when they saw Olette enter the changing room, although they couldn't see what the costume was that she was holding. Kairi spotted a costume to her liking and quickly entered a changing room of her own. Just then, Joy heard someone calling out her name, "JOY! JOY! Come here! I found the perfect costume for you!" It was Selphie. She had come out of nowhere and grabbed Joy's wrist, pulling her around the store to their destination.

Joy stared at the costume that Namine was standing next to. She was grinning at her, "What do you think?"

"Um, I like it, I'll give you that. But…" Joy started, gazing uncertainly at the costume.

"Just put it on!" Selphie ushered Joy in a changing room and threw the costume inside.

Five minutes later, Olette, Kairi, and Amy had bought their costumes and were waiting with Namine and Selphie for Joy to come out of her own changing costume. "Joy, are you done yet?" Amy asked impatiently, knocking on her door.

A slow reply came back, "…Yes…"

"Well, come out here and show us!" Selphie eagerly said.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Just come out here and let us see!" Kairi encouraged.

"Come on, it can't be as bad as you think it is," Amy persuaded her.

That's when the door started to slowly open and in the doorway stood Joy. All the girls gasped and said, "Oh my gosh!"

"You look so cute, Joy!" Namine exclaimed excitedly.

"You mean she looks _hot_!!" Selphie shouted. All the girls screamed.

Joy looked at them bashfully, "Don't you guys think it's a little… revealing?"

"Aw, come on Joy," Amy said, putting an arm around her shoulders, "Loosen up!"

Selphie started giggling, "Joy, Roxas is going to be drooling all over for you!"

Joy immediately started blushing at the thought of Roxas, and she started shaking her head furiously, "No way! I should change this costume - "

"No you don't!" Amy stopped Joy before going back in the changing room. "Look Joy, we only got ten minutes left before curfew, so just buy it," She said, trying to convince Joy.

Looking at her watch, Joy saw the time and sighed, "Fine…" The others sighed and shrieked in happiness for getting costumes. "What did you guys get anyway?"

* * *

Roxas was in his room, playing video games, like he would usually do when everyone seemed busy. Pence was out doing Yearbook Club stuff, Tidus and Wakka were playing Blitzball which he wasn't really interested in, and Riku and Sora were dueling each other at some place. Which left Roxas all alone. He was planning to go skateboarding, but his close friend, Axel wanted to borrow it; so thinking he would take care of it, he lent it to him. He was offered to do other things with his friends, but he preferred to stay in his own dorm and wait for his roommate.

At the thought of his roommate, his mind flashed back to what happened the day before.

"**Oh, what a day," Roxas said, entering his dorm. He stepped in and looked at his surroundings. Taking a seat on his bed, he bent over and proceeded to taking off his shoes when he heard the faint sound of running water. "Joy must be taking a shower…" Shaking his head furiously to erase the images that popped into his head, he continued taking off his shoes, keeping his mind somewhere else.**

"**Meow…" Roxas turned around to find Joy's furry little animal on Joy's bed, somewhat tangled in a piece of clothing. It seemed like a strap had found its way on top of Cookie's head, so she looked jumbled on Joy's bed. Laughing quietly, he got up from his seat, walked toward the bed and unraveled the animal out of its predicament. **

**When Roxas set the animal back in its own bed, that's when he glanced at the article of clothing that the creature was entangling itself in. He felt his face flush as he quickly turned and laid on his own bed. That's when he heard the bathroom door click open. Sitting up, he faced the aforementioned door. His eyes widened at the sight that stood there.**

**Joy was standing at the doorway, but that wasn't what Roxas had noticed. Normally, she would've come out of the shower with clothes on and her hair might be still a little drenched. But this time, Joy came out in **_**only**_** a towel. A pure white towel was wrapped around her body, but it barely concealed much of her body. She had her used clothes in a messy pile in her arms and she widened her own eyes when she found someone sitting on his bed, staring at her.**

**Both faces turned scarlet as they stayed silent, not moving a muscle. Slowly, Joy retreated back inside the bathroom. Once she was safely inside, Roxas heard a click as she locked the door. That woke him up from his trance and Roxas rushed toward the door. Pressing his ear against the door, he heard nothing. "Joy? I'm sorry! I didn't know you would come out of the bathroom…" He trailed off and got the image flashed back into his head. Shaking his head, he quickly said, "Yeah, I'm sorry, Joy!"**

**It was quiet. Roxas pressed his ear on the door harder, straining to hear if she said anything, "Just do me a favor Roxas… get out and wait…"**

"**Right," Roxas started moving toward the door. Quickly glancing back at the bathroom door, he felt his face flush and he quickly opened the door, walked in the hallway and closed the door. Sliding his back down the door, he put his face in his hands in embarrassment, from what he saw and the fact he didn't get his shoes.**

It wasn't his fault he didn't know that Joy would come out wearing _**only**_ a towel. How was he supposed to know? But, he couldn't help but stare at her when she came out in all her _wet_ glory. Her holding her clothes tightly against her chest as she tried to maintain the grip on her towel around her, her dripping blue-green hair stuck around her neck and face. He was sure if those clothes weren't in the way, he would've seen something else. Roxas couldn't help but blush, he was thinking that she -

"Hey Roxas!" Roxas turned his head to the girl walking to her own bed.

"Hey Joy," Roxas greeted back to her and saw the shopping bag she had placed on the ground next to her bed, "what did you buy?" Roxas asked, reaching a hand for the shopping bag. He was hoping that Joy couldn't see the blush that crept up to his cheeks from his thoughts earlier.

Joy quickly saw and grabbed her bag. Roxas gave her a peculiar look, "No peeking! This is my Halloween costume."

"Oh, you finally got one? What are you going to be?"

"A person in a costume," Joy replied, putting the bag in her closet.

"Of course," Roxas rolled his eyes and continued to play his video game, every now and then taking a glimpse at what Joy was going to do. "Not going to tell me, huh?"

"Nope," Joy laid on her own bed, leaning against her pillow, and watched Roxas play his game. "Have you found a costume yet?"

"No."

"Do you know what you want to be?" Joy asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Nope."

"Are you even _planning_ to be in a costume?"

"Maybe."

"Alrightey then," Joy said, and she leaned her head on the pillow and continued watching the television. Slowly, she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The guys were already at the dance, waiting for their friends - that were girls - to arrive. "Man, they are late. How long does it take to put on a costume?" Hayner asked annoyed in his pirate costume.

Roxas looked at his friends around him, all in costumes: Sora was a vampire-like creature (A/N: Think of his transformation to Halloween Town in KH2), Riku was a heartless man (A/N: Like Riku Replica), Hayner as a pirate, Tidus was wearing his kendo uniform, Wakka is in his Blitzball clothes, and Pence was just there to take pictures, so he was wearing his usual clothes. Roxas looked down at himself, he too, was wearing his own casual clothes. He didn't even bother to look for a costume.

"They sure are taking awhile," Roxas agreed with his best friend.

"Well, they are _girls_," Riku said.

No one argued with that because they were _girls_. "Hey, isn't that them?" Pence was pointing at the entrance where six girls were entering, arm in arm. The boys turned their heads and five out of seven gawked at the girls.

From left to right, was a raven haired Geisha, a Dark Angel with a black beret, an Angel with blonde hair, an auburn haired princess, a short brown-haired Vampiress, and lastly, our other brown-haired kitty. "They have nice costumes, ya?" Wakka asked his gawking friends.

Selphie, in her Vampiress costume, smirked at the guys' reactions and said, "Targets, straight ahead."

"Do we _have_ to walk like this?" Joy said, a bit uncomfortable and embarrassed.

"Yes, it's more fun this way," Kairi told the girl. Joy sighed at her, she was wishing that she on the edge right now instead of Amy, that way she could've escaped.

After a few moments and they finally reached the guys. The same guys were still staring, Hayner and Sora's jaws dropped, and Pence took a picture. "You girls look great!"

"Thanks Pence," Olette said to him. She started fixing her headband that had her cat ears placed on them.

"Sorry it took so long, Namine and Joy had a little trouble entering through doors with their wings," Kairi said, pointing at the said girls' wings.

"You can't blame us, these wings are long," Joy started playing around with her black wings, indicating how long it was.

All the guys looked closely at the girls' costumes. Amy was wearing a black and white kimono, her black hair in a bun and she was wearing make-up: her whole face was white from face powder, her lips were a bright red from lipstick, and other make-up to make her look like a real geisha.

Joy was a Dark Angel. The dead give away was the long dark wings on her back. With it she wore a black and white tube top that stopped at her stomach with a black and white long skirt that reached her ankles. There were long slits up the skirt and she wore arm warmers, one black, the other white. To finish it off, she wore her black beret and _light_ make-up.

Namine was the Light Angel, wearing a pure white spaghetti strapped dress that reached her knees and feathery white wings on her back. In a way, her costume and Joy's costume were like a paired set with the other.

Kairi is the princess of them, wearing a tiara upon her red hair and a strapless amaranth pink dress that ended below her knees. Something that she wore that made Sora smile was the necklace around her neck, it had a crown hanging from it. It was a present from Sora for her birthday the year before.

Selphie wore a coat that she tied at the top, and the collar shielded her neck from any cold. Her coat was open except at the top, which showed her outfit within: a red V-neck dress that reached to her knees. Wearing long red gloves that started from her fingertips to her elbow, her hair was in small pigtails. Finishing it off, she wore a black choker around her neck with a rose on it.

Olette was last. She was wearing a cat costume which consisted of a headband with two big cat ears with a little bow in the middle, she wore a sleeveless black shirt and sleeves that seemed to be a separated clothing, and black capris. The last touch to the costume that made it so obvious that she was a cat was the black long tail behind her.

"Uh, what's up with them?" Joy asked Pence, pointing at the _still_ gawking guys.

"Oh, they're just surprised to find their crushes in such awesome costumes," Pence replied simply, taking another picture.

That little statement made Selphie and Kairi laugh, and made the guys snap out of their trance. "Awesome? You call that awesome?" Hayner said defensively, blushing a bit.

"Yes _awesome_, Hayner. Like your pirate costume is any better," Olette sneered at him.

Second one to react to the situation, Riku stepped toward Amy, "Wanna dance?"

Despite the face powder, Joy could tell Amy was blushing like crazy, "Okay…" They both went off to the dance floor, a slow song was playing at the moment.

"Awwwwww, how cute!" Joy exclaimed as she saw the two dance.

"Not as cute as you," Joy heard someone whisper in her ear. Spinning around, she found her red haired friend, "Oh, hi Axel. You freakin' scared me!"

Axel laughed at her, "Sorry, but that was funny to see your expression."

Joy made a face at him, "What do you want, anyway?"

"Just came by to talk."

"Oh, I see." Joy looked at his costume, "What are you supposed to be?"

"A guy in a black cloak," He merely said. Axel was wearing a long black cloak with a hood that he didn't wear, the clock reached the floor and he wore black shoes.

"Interesting," Joy said.

"Hey Axel," Roxas said, appearing next to Joy, "where's my skateboard?"

"Keep your socks on, it's fine," Axel said, giving a noogie to Roxas.

"Okay, okay!" Roxas pleaded, getting out of Axel's hold.

Over with Hayner and Olette's bickering, Hayner shouted to her, "You want to know what I really think about your costume?!"

"Yes, I would actually!" Olette yelled back at him.

"I think you look cute! Okay!" Hayner immediately blushed at what he said. Olette stared at him.

Suddenly, a fast paced song started playing and Hayner grabbed Olette's hand and started pulling.

"Hey! Where are you taking me??"

"To the dance floor of course!"

Moving to Selphie and Tidus, we find them to be at the punch bowl, Tidus pouring her some punch and Selphie talking animatedly. Namine was with Pence and Wakka, and they were talking with one another with the exceptions of Pence taking pictures of the dance. At one point, Wakka asked Namine to dance just for fun, which she accepted. Amy and Riku were still on the dance floor, having the time of their lives.

Axel left Joy and Roxas when he spotted Larxene. "Everyone seems to be having fun," Joy said softly as she watched all her friends having fun.

"Yeah…" Roxas glanced at Joy from the corner of his eye. "Hey Joy?"

Joy looked at Roxas, "Yeah?"

"Do you want to dance?"

"Oh, I'd like to, but," Roxas' eyes showing disappointment, "I don't know how to dance…" Joy turned her face away from Roxas in humiliation.

Roxas laughed at the girl, "It's okay." Joy looked back at the boy to see his hand out for her, "I'll teach you, in private if you want."

"Right now?" Joy asked anxiously.

"If you trust me," He simply said, his hand still out for her to take.

Joy stared at the hand and then back to the dance floor. '_Should I?'_ Joy thought. Looking over toward her busy friends on the dance floor, she gently placed a hand on top of his, "Alright." Roxas smiled at her and started guiding her to the exit of the gym. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere private," was his response, and out the doors the two went. Unbeknownst to them, Pence and Namine had noticed the two. Boy, they couldn't wait to tell the others.

* * *

It was a nice breezy Halloween night. The crescent moon was out and shined brightly with the rest of the stars. From the gym, two figures were exiting and walking away from the building. Once they reached a tree a few yards away from the building, they stopped and faced one another.

"Basically, the guy is the dominant one when dancing, leading their partner," Roxas said to her once they reached an area farther away from the gym but it was still in view. All the doors to the gym were open so the gym wouldn't get too hot, thus they could hear the faint sound of the music the dance was currently playing.

"Why?"

"I don't know. That doesn't matter though. Okay, a basic position to dance is this," Roxas started moving Joy's left hand on his shoulder and the other in his hand as he placed his hand on her waist. They both felt the chill again run up their spines as their hands came in contact, like they did the first day they met.

"Uh…isn't this the waltz position or something?" Joy asked, trying to ignore that chill.

"Yes."

"Then, why am I going to learn this one?"

"Because, for some reason, they play more slow songs than actual dancing songs."

"I see."

"Okay, just follow my lead," Roxas instructed her and he took one step forward. He saw Joy staring at their feet to know which foot to move and so on. Roxas chuckled at her, "Look up at me," Joy slowly lifted her face, "and keep your gaze on me. Don't stare at your feet because then you _will_ mess up."

"Okay, I'm sorry," Joy told him, and she took a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she was met with blue eyes staring back at her. Their eyes stayed locked throughout the dance lesson. There were the moments where Joy would lose her footing or step on Roxas' foot on accident, but they covered it up with a laugh and an apology and went back to dancing. The funny thing was that, the whole time they were dancing, slow songs only were playing in the gym.

Roxas had them dance even closer when he let go of her hand and placed his hand on the other side of her waist and Joy had to place her unused hand on his other shoulder. Eyes were still locked as they continued dancing.

From the doorway, the gang snickered and awed at the couple.

"Oh my gosh, Roxas is leaning in!" Selphie whispered loudly.

"Are they going to have they're first kiss together yet???" Sora asked anticipating.

Amy stared intently at the two with a serious face. _'Is she going to do it?'_

With the couple, Roxas started leaning in, very slowly and hesitantly. For a minute, Joy seemed to be leaning in as well. Roxas was more confident now.

The gang held their breath in anticipation.

'_I guess not yet.'_

"What?"

Unexpectedly, Joy had placed her head on Roxas' shoulder. Roxas' expression changed to disappointment.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Kairi exclaimed, her jaw dropped in shock.

"She did it again!" Hayner exasperated.

Roxas turned his to the girl laying her head on his shoulder. _'She's still not ready…'_ Roxas smiled faintly, _'I guess I can wait a little longer.'_

* * *

In dorm #317, a computer was left on. Regardless of a high electric bill for the school, a window had popped up. It started flashing. It seems Joy had left herself online on AIM, AOL Instant Messenger.

**BlackGarden14:** Hey Joy!

**BlackGarden14:** Guess what?!

**BlackGarden14:** …

**BlackGarden14:** Are you there?

**BlackGarden14:** Well, hurry up and get back on here!

**BlackGarden14:** I have great news!

* * *

Hope you liked it!

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I need **critism**! To be a _better_ writer!

Although, compliments are wanted as well ;) Pretty please?


	9. Foreign Exchange Students

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP This chapter may be a little meaningless and kind of shorter than other chapters...but its a little understanding of the story! UNEXPECTED TURN COMING SOON!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, BlackGarden14, Stacie, Fernando, Kristina, and Ricky Tang

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, and an anonymous person. :)  
Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Eight**_  
**Foreign Exchange Students**

**xAngelJoyx: **Sorry, I was at a dance last night and just fell asleep on my bed. My roommate didn't even tell me that there was an IM flashing on the computer, so yeah xP

**BlackGarden14**: JOOY !! FINALLY ! GUESS WHAT ?!

**xAngelJoyx:** Huh, what ? o.o

**BlackGarden14: **I'm coming to Destiny Islands!

**xAngelJoyx: **No way! O.O

**BlackGarden14: **I'm serious!

**BlackGarden14: **We're all coming!

* * *

Laying on her own bed, Amy did her Math homework with Olette on her own bed. "Okay, what do you do with the 6?" Olette asked Amy. 

"You multiply it by 4."

"Why?"

"Because - " At that moment, Amy's cell phone started ringing. "Hold on, one second," Amy told Olette and she picked up her cell phone, looking at the screen, she hastily opened her phone and pressed it against her ear, "Hello?"

- "Hey, what's up?"

- "What?"

- "Good news? Only? No bad news?"

- "What is it?"

- "…WHAT?!"

- "Seriously?!"

- "Since when?!"

Olette looked at her roommate, confused. _'Who is she talking to?'_

* * *

Joy stared at her computer screen with her eyes the size of saucers and her jaw dropped. Abruptly, her cell phone in her pocket started vibrating. Taking the electronic out, she saw that she had a voicemail. Seeing she barely had any signal at the moment, she found out why she just didn't get the call. 

"Who's calling you?" Joy turned around and found Roxas laying on his stomach, looking at her.

"Oh, I just got a voicemail, that's all," Joy replied to him, calling her voicemail. Roxas shrugged it off and went back to his math homework that Joy had already finished awhile ago.

After a few seconds of waiting, Joy heard a familiar voice, "_HEY JOY! YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE IT! Okay, I'll stop yelling, but I have awesome news! I'm coming to your school on a foreign exchange program! Pick us up at the airport next Saturday, and see you there!_"

Joy dropped her phone in shock. The phone hit the floor with a _clang_ and Roxas shot up his head. He saw the girl in front of him with expanded eyes, mouth agape, and her hand still next to her ear where her phone _should_ have been. "Joy?"

Getting no response, Roxas was about to get up and wave a hand in front of Joy when she suddenly jumped out of her chair and ran toward the door screaming, "**AMY**!" Halfway off the bed, Roxas looked toward the open doorway with confusion.

A second later, Amy's voice was heard through the halls, "**JOY**!"

Roxas peeked his head out of the door to see what was going on and saw a few dorms down that Olette was peeking her head out as well. Amy and Joy were in between the two dorms and right in front of each other, Amy had her phone still on her ear. "**THEY'RE COMING!**"

"Who's coming?" Joy asked her best friend.

"Fernando!" Amy shouted at him.

"No way! Stacie and Kristina are coming too!" Joy shouted back at her. The two girls started jumping up and down. "Is that Fernando??" Joy asked, pointing at Amy's phone.

"Yeah," Amy gave her phone to Joy.

"**FERNANDO**! You're coming here?! Since when?!" A pause, "Oh, is Kristina coming too?" Another pause, "You know that's kind of weird, but whatever! I can't believe you're coming here!" There was a moment of silence and then Joy quickly said, "Oh okay, see you soon!" After a few moments, she quickly hung up the phone and gave it back to Amy. The two stared at each other before screaming in happiness and jumping hyperly.

* * *

"Okay, there's three of them coming. Two girls and one guy, they're names are Kristina, Stacie, and Fernando. Kristina and Fernando are stepsiblings, so there's a reason why they don't really look alike." Roxas nodded at Joy from his bed, indicating her to go on. 

After the little scene out in the hallway, Joy and Amy went back in their respected dorms. Roxas immediately asked what was going on, so here they were, in their dorm on their own beds, Roxas listening while Joy explained.

"It seems that they're on a foreign exchange program, so I guess the exchange is here. Kristina is cool, she's kind of like me, except she is more mature than I am. And, she hits _way_ harder than me."

"Oh no," Roxas said playfully.

Joy threw one of her stuffed animals at him which he laughed at, "Anyway! Stacie is awesome, she is like one of my closest friends. And Fernando is just plain…weird." Roxas snorted at that and Joy threw another plushie at him, "I don't mean it in that way! I mean, he's cool and all, but sometimes he's a little too girlie."

Roxas gave her a strange look before saying, "Okay…"

Joy laughed, "But they're all fun to hangout with. We've been friends since junior high. But you know what creeps me out?"

"What?" Roxas asked her, throwing the stuffed animals back on Joy's bed.

"When I was talking to Fernando awhile ago, before he left, he told me 'when we get there, don't get mad at us' and he just hung up on me."

"Maybe they're bringing something with them that you don't like," Roxas suggested.

"Hm, that's a possibility."

"Okay, I'm going to change the subject." Roxas said suddenly.

"Alright, to what?" Joy questioned him, hugging one of her pillows.

"Help me with my math homework?" He lightheartedly asked.

Rolling her eyes, Joy got up and took a seat in front of Roxas as he stayed, laying on his stomach on his bed. "And I thought I was the one that needed help with math."

"Well, you're returning the favor," He said to her, grinning.

"Yeah, yeah." And with that, Joy tutored Roxas on his math homework.

* * *

Writing in her little journal, Joy was on her bed, as usual. It was a Saturday and she normally didn't get homework on the weekends. So here she was, off in her own little world, writing in her journal full of her written thoughts and memories. All of a sudden, her phone went off. Reaching for it, she noticed that Amy was calling her, "Hello?" 

"Joy! Guess what?!" Amy's voice rang through Joy's ears.

"What?"

"Riku asked me to be his girlfriend!"

"Oh _my_ gosh! **No way**! Are you **serious**?! Did you say yes?!" Joy was happy for her friend. Amy had been telling Joy that she's been crushing on Riku for awhile. And it seemed Riku returned her feelings. It was a bit obvious at the Halloween Bash.

"_Yeah_! Of course I did! We're at the mall right now."

"That is _so_ awesome! You guys on a date?"

"Yeah. Oh, I gotta go! I'll call you later!"

"Okay, have _fun_!" Joy said teasingly. Amy hung up on her. Staring at her cell phone, she said to it, "Geez." Going back to her journal, Joy heard the door make a _click_ noise. Turning her attention to the door, she saw Roxas enter the room. "Hey Roxas," she greeted.

"Hey, want to take a walk outside? Y'know, get some fresh air?" Roxas asked the girl from the still open doorway.

Joy stared at her journal to Roxas and back. "You know, that sounded just like Rai?" Roxas gave a scowl which Joy just laughed at. She put her journal away and nodded at him before walking out the door with him.

* * *

"Wait," Joy halted Roxas. Roxas looked at her confused, his hand on the handle to the door that led out of the dormitories. Joy ran to a nearby vending machine and popped in some munny. Getting what she wanted, she grabbed it and ran back to Roxas, grinning, "I just wanted some cookies." 

Roxas shook his head at the girl and held out the door for her. Joy walked out smiling and Roxas followed right after. They started walking toward the park, staying on the pathway that lead to it. It was the beginning of fall, and the regular trees were turning their leaves into their true colors. There was a nice comfortable silence between the two as they walked through the park. Joy mainly looked around the scenery, the bag of cookies still unopened in her hand, while Roxas stared straight head, leading the way through the park. They continued on a path that circled through the park, a calm peace hanging over them.

"Hm, you know Amy and Riku are going out now?" Joy asked, trying to fill in the silence. She continued, "Amy just called me awhile ago. They're on a date at the mall."

"_Finally_. That guy has been staring at her for the past week, didn't think he was _ever_ going to ask her out."

"You knew??"

"Of course. I'm cousins with his best friend, how would I not know?"

"And you never told me!"

"You never asked." Roxas pointed out, shrugging.

Joy pouted at him before changing the subject. "So, why are we walking through the park, Roxas?" Joy asked, turning to him.

Roxas shrugged again, "I just felt like it."

"Then, why am I here?"

"Hm, just felt like bringing you along."

"Really now?"

"What? Can't I spend time with my roommate?" Roxas looked at her with that cheesy smile.

"Roxas, we're roommates, have every single class together, _and_ we have the same friends. I think we spend **a lot** of time together," Joy informed the sandy blonde.

"Hm…I get the feeling you don't want to be with me right now," Roxas said, faking being hurt while looking the other way.

Being the gullible person that Joy was, she immediately started to apologize, "Wait, I'm sorry Roxas! I didn't mean it like that!"

Roxas grinned back at her, poking her forehead, "Just kidding."

Joy pouted at him before crossing her arms and walking away from him. Roxas rolled her eyes and followed after her. Joy was fully aware of him just right behind her just as her fake anger subsided. Taking a seat on a nearby bench, Joy started opening her little bag of cookies. Roxas took a seat next to her soon after.

"Hm, one more week before my friends come here," Joy said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah. I bet you can't wait for them to come," Roxas responded, turning to her.

"I guess. It will be nice to see them again, I'm sure you and the gang will like them, too." Roxas stared at the girl next to him. Joy had kept her gaze on the bag of cookies and had gone quiet, all of a sudden. Her eyes went from lively to low-spirited; it seemed that she was remembering a past memory. Roxas put a hand on her shoulder which she quickly reacted to. She looked up at him and saw his worried look. She instantly plastered a grin on her face and said, "Hey, you coming with me and Amy to the airport next Saturday? I think Riku's coming along, too."

"You want me to come?" Roxas asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Why not? Ever since Fernando said '_when we get there, don't get mad at us,_' I've been getting a nervous feeling from it. He usually never warns me like that except when it's really something I wouldn't like."

Roxas thought for a moment before saying, "Hm, sure. I guess I can come. Got nothing else to do on that day."

"Okie dokie!" Joy exclaimed, bouncing inside with happiness. "Hey, tryouts for the Tennis Team is next week!"

"You're going to tryout?"

"Yeah! Of course! I love tennis," Joy told him, smiling, "Amy, Olette, Kairi, Namine, and Selphie are going to tryout, too."

Roxas chuckled, putting his hands behind his head, "That is such a girl sport."

"Hey!" Joy snapped, smacking the upside of his head, "Guys play tennis, too!"

"Sheesh! Okay," Roxas responded, rubbing the back of his head.

Noticing how hard she hit the poor guy, she offered her bag of cookies to Roxas, "Cookies?"

Before Roxas could respond, Joy felt hot breath next to her ear, "I would like one."

Joy jumped out of her seat and nearly yelped if she didn't see who the one that whispered in her ear, "Axel! You jerk!" Axel straightened up and started laughing at the jumpy girl. The blue haired guy next to him smirked at the event, "Hi Zexion."

"That was _totally_ worth it," Axel spoke in between laughs.

Joy threw a cookie at him which hit him square on the head, "You suck, Axel. I hate you now." Joy quickly took her seat back next to Roxas who also was snickering a bit. "Shut up, Roxas," Joy retorted, puffing out her cheeks in annoyance.

Axel, once he was done with his amusement, circled around the bench and faced the two, "So, what brings you two to the park on this _lovely_ day?"

"Fresh air?" Joy replied to him, turning to Roxas who in return nodded his head at her.

"Really now?" Axel questioned, walking by Roxas' side.

Roxas eyed the red head suspiciously, "Yeah…"

"Hmm…" Axel started, his voice lowering so only Roxas could hear, "Seems more like a date."

Roxas flushed and pushed Axel away, "What are you even doing here, Axel?" Roxas asked, annoyed.

"Well, Zexion and I just came back from the skate park."

"Oh, before I forget, when are you going to give back my skateboard? I want to hit the skate park sometime now."

Axel merely slapped Roxas on the back, "Lighten up will ya? You'll get it back soon enough."

"Want some cookies Zexion? They're really good," Joy offered the bag to Zexion as she bit into another cookie.

Roxas and Axel turned their heads to the other two. Zexion looked down at the girl as she held out the bag; she had a cookie hanging from her mouth. The next thing that happened shocked the two that were sitting on the bench. Zexion placed a hand under Joy's chin and lifted her head up to him, the cookie still in place. He lowered his head and bit on the same cookie in her mouth, the whole time, keeping eye contact with the _now_ blushing girl. With a swift movement of his head, he broke the cookie with his mouth and chewed. (A/N: Think of Ouran High School Host Club's cookie scene)

'_What the f---!'_ Roxas thought, feeling his blood boil with rage. Zexion regained his normal composure and they saw him swallow the delicacy down his throat. Roxas turned his attention to Joy who was blushing like a tomato.

"You know… if you wanted one, you could've just gotten one from here," Joy stammered, gesturing to the bag of cookies in her limp hand.

Zexion stared at the bag before saying, "I don't like getting my hands dirty."

Roxas unconsciously clenched his fist. Axel took notice and smirked. In a voice only heard by Roxas, Axel whispered in his ear, "Get a move on, Roxas. 'Cause if you don't, you'll lose your chance just like you _almost_ did now. Your lucky Zexion doesn't like hyper girls."

Even though Joy was still blushing, she said to Zexion, "If you do that again, I swear I'll make it so you never _eat_ again." Zexion turned his gaze to Joy and gave her a disbelievingly look. "I will!" Joy persisted.

"Well, we'll leave you two lovebirds alone," Axel said, starting to walk away toward the school.

"Don't do something that I wouldn't do," Zexion told the two. He smirked at their reactions and walked shortly behind Axel. When Roxas and Joy weren't looking, Axel handed a $10 bill to Zexion.

"We're not lovebirds!" Joy yelled after him.

* * *

Another week has passed since the day that Roxas and Joy had gone to the park. Roxas didn't heed Axel's advice, but he has spent even more time with Joy. The time they spent together gave the impression that it was longer than the time of the average married couple. During the week that has gone by, the gang went to the beach to finalize the end of the summer season. And the news of Amy and Riku's relationship spread throughout the school like a wild fire. The girls that were keeping an eye on Riku, envied Amy as Riku always had an arm around her. 

But now, it was the day. It was Saturday and they were at the airport; they as in Joy, Amy, Roxas, and Riku. Roxas and Riku were the only ones willing to wake up early just to make it in time for the arrival of the foreign exchange students. It was 8AM, so just to make it in time, they had to start driving by seven; Riku was the one that drove them there in one of the school's vans. Amy and Joy, being friends with the foreign exchange students, proposed to Principal Ansem that they would pick them up at the airport.

In the car, Riku obviously was in the drivers seat and being his girlfriend, Amy sat next to him in the passengers seat. Roxas and Joy took the middle seats of the car, but '_accidentally_', Roxas had put his hand on top of Joy's when she had her hand out on the middle seat and they both felt the electricity run through their bodies. Reacting to it, they retreated their hands and muttered a small 'sorry'.

At the airport, Joy and Amy were standing up, looking at the exit where their friends were suppose to be coming from. Roxas and Riku were sitting on the chairs near them, watching the girls. Roxas had his head on his hand which was on the arm chair, while Riku sat next to him.

"Where are they??" Amy exasperated, letting a few other passengers walk past her.

"Calm down, Amy. They're probably still looking for their luggages." Joy reassured the girl. After a few more minutes, Joy caught sight of dark brown hair. "I see Stacie!"

"Where?!" Amy yelled, frantically looking around, "I'm blind!"

"**STACIE**!" Joy saw another girl next to her friend, "**KRISTINA**!"

"**JOY**! **AMY**!" A girl with black hair ran and nearly glomped Amy. The brunette that was next to her rushed over to the scene.

"Hey Stacie!" Joy exclaimed and hugged the girl. "Handshake?"

"Hm…okay," Stacie nodded and held out her hand. Joy shook it and before you knew it, the two were doing a series of complicated hand movements. It took a moment before they ended it with a high five, and it sent the four girls laughing.

"Oh my gosh! Looking for my luggage took _**forever**_! I swear, there was like **ten** people that had the same luggage as me," Stacie complained, taking out her plushie from her carry-out bag.

Joy laughed, but was suddenly squeezed into a bear hug by her other friend, "Nice - to - see - you - too … Kristina!" Joy managed to choke out. Kristina was a tall Asian girl that had black shoulder length hair. Stacie had dark brown hair that almost looked black was a tiny bit taller than Joy and was also Asian. Once Kristina released her bear-hug, Joy looked around before asking, "Where's Fernando?"

"Oh, he's coming. He had a hard time looking for his _humungous _luggage. Turns out that his suitcase was too fat that it almost got stuck in the machine," Kristina explained.

"He's a dork like that," Joy retorted.

"I'll introduce you guys to the people that are here," Amy started leading Kristina and Stacie to Roxas and Riku. Joy stayed where she was and continued to look over the mob of passengers coming out, searching for her other friend. Soon enough, she found a highlighted blonde's head. Waving her hand in the air, she yelled, "**FERNANDO**!"

The blonde turned his head to the familiar voice and walked over to her. After their greetings, Joy noticed he got taller. He was almost a head taller than her, but he was still shorter than Riku. "Where are the others?" He asked.

Joy pointed toward where Amy was and said, "the two guys that don't seem familiar are our friends. The taller one is Amy's boyfriend." Fernando nodded and started walking away when he felt someone grab his sleeve. Turning around, he found Joy holding on to his sleeve, but faced the other way. Slowly, she said, "What is _he_ doing here?"

Fernando looked to where she was staring at and started getting nervous. He was saved from answering when Amy ran toward him, "Fernando! You're finally here!"

"Okay, okay! Enough with the hugs," Fernando told the girl, prying the girl away from him.

"What's wrong, Joy?" Roxas asked, walking up next to her. He turned his attention to a teenager guy with dark hair that was walking toward the group.

"Hello," a small voice was heard. The others turned their heads to the source. Joy's arm that was holding on to Fernando's sleeve went limb as she stared while Amy's jaw dropped. "Nice to see you girls, too."

The guy that stood before them, who was an inch taller than Roxas, was the guy that made Joy have her promise. The guy that she wanted to forget. The most unexpected person she thought that would've come back into her life.

"W…what…" Joy could barely let the words come out of her mouth.

"What are you doing here?!" Amy yelled out for Joy.

The unknown teenager mocked hurt, "Ouch, that hurt."

The guy from the beginning, the guy that made Joy finalize her decision of leaving her old high school. He was the person that hurt her last. But, now he just stood there, smiling as if he never did. Amy took notice and glared daggers at him. _Ricky Tang._

* * *

Hope you liked it! 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I need **critism**! To be a _better_ writer!

Although, compliments are wanted as well ;) Pretty please?_  
_


	10. Confusing Feelings

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP Swear words but they have been censored.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Fernando, Kristina, Ricky Tang, Coach Gem, and Jasmine

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, and an anonymous person. :)  
Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Nine**_  
**Confusing Feelings**

"So, I'm guessing you remember who I am?"

"Of course we know who _you_ are! You're the f-ing person that hur- ow!" Amy started but was interrupted by a hard poke by Joy.

Joy gave Amy a look before saying, "Why are you here, Ricky?"

"What else? I'm here on a foreign exchange," he said simply.

Amy heaved a sigh, grabbed Stacie's and Kristina's wrists before excusing herself away. Joy watched them leave as she stayed behind. Groaning lowly, she turned back to the four boys. Roxas took note of her expression when she saw this _Ricky_ person and watched as every time her eyes met with Ricky's, her eyes went forlorn.

"So, who are these fellows?" Ricky asked, gesturing to the guys behind Joy.

Joy turned around and immediately started apologizing, "Oh I'm sorry! I nearly forgot about you guys," Joy joked, sticking out her tongue. "Roxas, Riku, this is Fernando and Ricky. They're from my old school," Joy faced the other two guys, "And Fernando, Ricky, this is Roxas and Riku, my new friends at Twilight High. Riku is Amy's boyfriend."

Unlike girls, the boys just stood there and nodded their heads toward one another. "Are these the only friends you've made?" Ricky asked arching an eyebrow, "Because knowing you, you would've made a ton of friends already."

"Of course not! My other friends just didn't want to come. Why'd you guys have to come _so_ early anyway??" Joy asked, turning her attention to Fernando.

"It's not our fault. We just didn't want to _leave_ early," Fernando explained.

"So, you had to _arrive_ early?" Joy exasperated.

"Yes," Fernando replied to her in a 'matter-of-fact' tone.

Joy rolled her eyes at him. Still the same as ever. "How long are you guys going to be studying here?"

"About a month, I think… Right?" Fernando said, turning to Ricky, who just nodded.

Somewhere else in the airport, away from Joy and the boys, were Amy, Kristina, and Stacie. Stacie complaining since Amy was still dragging them a bit, "Amy! Let go already!"

Amy swiftly turned around and released their wrists. Her eyebrows were furrowed in anger and she was holding up a frown. She looked angry. "What the he-- is _he_ doing here?!" Amy demanded.

"Ricky?" Kristina asked. "He wanted to come."

"_**Why?!**_"

"Stop getting mad, he wanted to come and see Joy," Stacie tried to explain.

"What the he--! Why didn't you tell us?!" Amy screamed in rage.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Kristina muttered to Stacie.

"Because he said not to! He wanted it to be a big surprise or something," Stacie told the infuriated girl.

"Oh my gosh! He's going to ruin everything!" Amy cried in frustration.

"What do you mean?" Kristina asked, "We thought that she would be happy. Ricky came here to apologize and try to patch things up! He even said that he likes her now," Kristina informed Amy.

"What were you guys _thinking_?! You people should've called me! This is just going to make things worse! Joy and Roxas are this _close_," Amy demonstrated how close they were with her fingers, "to confessing their **love** for each other!"

Stacie and Kristina looked at each other confused. "Wait, I thought Joy made a promise or something not to love another again.. ?"

"Please, do you _really_ think she could do that?"

Stacie thought for a moment, "No, not really."

"_**There you go**_!" Amy's temper was reaching very high point, "**UGH**!"

"You ok?" Amy felt arms wrap around her waist from behind. She didn't even have to turn around to know who it is before leaning against him, "I can hear you steaming."

Amy sighed heavily, "I'll talk about it later."

* * *

The ride back to the school was very strange to say the least. Riku and Amy stayed in their original seats as before, but it was Joy's seat that she felt uncomfortable with. The middle seats of the van were smaller than the one in the back, so Joy was a bit squished between the guys on either side of her: Roxas on her right and Ricky on her left. Fernando and the remaining two girls took up the very back. Joy had to lean forward on her knees so she wasn't leaning on either of the guys. (A/N: Just think of a regular van) 

Joy felt very uncomfortable. She was in the middle of her last crush and her current crush, although she won't admit to that. Roxas kept an eye on Ricky for he noticed that he kept glancing every now and then to the girl next to him.

"**Get a move on, Roxas. 'Cause if you don't, you'll lose your chance just like you **_**almost**_** did now."**

_**Axel's words ran through my head. I could call this coincidence, but then I'd be an idiot. I can see this Ricky guy staring at her. It seems him and Joy have a past together. But… Joy doesn't seem to be too happy about it. I have a bad feeling about this.**_

_Why is he here? Why does he have to be here. I don't want him here. Oh my gosh I feel soo uncomfortable. He's messing my life up right now and he just barely came here. Ugh, now my feelings are… they're going out of control right now. Do I still like Ricky?_

…

_No Joy! You don't like him! You made a promise, stick with it!_

* * *

_It's been three days since my past came back. The gang likes my friends, we're all just great friends now. Fernando, Kristina, Stacie, and Ricky, they all have a few of my classes. I found out that Tidus and Wakka went on the foreign exchange program, so Fernando and Ricky use their dorm for this exchange. The dorm was cleared out for the occasion._

_Every thing is fine and still almost the same. Every now and then, I see Kristina walk off to the seniors' group during meals and notice that she always takes a seat next to Marluxia. I also see Namine laugh and smile even more when Fernando's around. I'm happy for them._

_And yet… there's one thing bothering me…_

_I feel distanced from Roxas now and I think Ricky is trying to get closer to me. I don't know, but I see him talking to me .. _a lot._ It brings back memories._

"_**My name's Ricky Tang"**_

_My past…_

"_**You have something on your nose."**_

_The past I wanted to leave…_

"_**Just something for your birthday."**_

_Memories I regret…_

"_**I love you too?"**_

_Truth covered by lies…_

"_**Do you like me?"**_

_The guy I wanted to believe…_

"_**I think its better we stay friends."**_

_But hurt me in the end…_

_And he's back. He's getting close to me again, and I feel my feelings for him from before poking back up. What's going on with me? He hurt me… Why am I suddenly questioning myself like this? This is so stupid. And yet, I'm still feeling like this. I haven't told anyone… I don't want them jumping to conclusions about anything._

_Before, Roxas and I would hang out and I'd feel happy, but now, it's like it's all a lie. I don't feel as happy as before. I feel more distant from him, and I'm not even sure if he feels it too. I still feel my heart beating faster every time I see him and I feel more happier when he's around… but… I don't know._

_And this feeling has been nagging at me lately, a feeling something even worse than this is coming._

"Joy?" Knocking Joy out of her own thoughts, she turned her head to Amy. "You're spacing out more than usual Joy. And I can tell it's not about Roxas this time."

"Huh?"

"What's up?"

"Nothing!" Joy lied. She didn't even want Amy to know what was going on in her head.

"You're hiding something from me," Amy voiced, giving her a look.

"I am? I wonder what that is," Joy simply replied, laying back on Amy's bed.

"That's what I would like to know."

At that moment, the door burst open and in came Olette. "Come on you two, tennis tryouts are in ten minutes!"

* * *

Stretching out their arms, the girls were all in their tennis outfits on the courts, warming up before they were to be playing. Coach Gem wasn't there yet at the moment, so the girls that had come early were warming up by playing a game. There were a handful of girls, but not a lot trying out for the team. 

"I hope we all make it," they hear Olette say.

"We should. We've been practicing lately, so I think we're pretty good." Kairi said to her.

"Are you sure about that? I could barely return a serve," Joy said negatively.

"So? You have a mean serve! That's good enough," Amy tells Joy, "I need a better backswing."

"Oh, shut up Amy, you're better than most of us here," Namine encouraged her friend. "Where are the others? Are they going to watch?"

"Fernando, Ricky, Kristina, and Stacie are definitely coming," Joy informed the blonde girl, "They have nothing else to do on a Wednesday. Especially if they don't have any homework."

Selphie started pointing to the bleachers, "I see them! The other guys are here too!"

The girls turned to the bleachers and found their friends perched upon the bottom row, closest to the courts. They were cheering.

"Make us proud!" Hayner exclaimed.

"You bet we will!" Olette yelled back at him.

"You guys better make it or I'll kick your butt!" Kristina shouted. The girls laughed at that comment because they knew she could be telling the truth.

"Go Kairi! You can do it!" Sora shouted.

Joy elbowed Kairi as she started blushing. She merely waved back and smiled at Sora.

Joy's eyes scanned her friends until she was locked with bright blue eyes. _Roxas. _She waved to him and saw him smile as he gave her the thumbs up. Joy made a dreadful face before sticking out her tongue at him and smiling. She sees him chuckle when she saw another person waving their attention from next to him. It was Ricky, "Do your best Joy!" Joy stared at him before nodding her head.

"Joy, the coach is here," Amy alerted Joy which made her turn around and find Coach Gem next to the courts. Coach Gem was a short young woman with a petite body, she barely reached Kairi's height. To know she was coach, you'd have to look at her shirt and visor that was labeled 'COACH GEM'.

"Okay girls! The tryouts are simple. I hope you had enough warm up time to be ready. I'm going to see your serves, returns, and backswings. That's what I'm mainly looking for. Oh, and don't forget energy! Fast on your feet! After that, we're going to have you go against someone and the returning girls and myself," she gestured to the girls behind her, Yuffie and Tifa being one of them, "will observe your matches. Got it?"

The new girls nodded their heads and they were instructed to make a line behind the court's base line. A basket of tennis balls were set up and a ball machine was on the other side.

In the bleachers, the group of friends sat on a row, watching their friends. Making comments here and there.

-"Hey, Joy nearly did a bullet serve!"

-"Aw, Namine hit the net."

-"Dang, Amy has a mean backswing."

-"Selphie hit it too hard! It's going over the fence!"

-"Oo! That's gotta hurt. I wonder if Kairi was aiming…"

-"Olette has a nice slice."

"Okay, ladies! It's time for the matches. It's going to be a 3-set match. Here are the match-ups," Coach Gem said, holding up a piece of paper.

_I'm up against someone named Jasmine. She was taller than me, that was for sure._

_I served first and she returned it. I did a backswing it and it was nearly out. She hit it back and I hit it as hard as I could to try and get her out. It ended up going too far and it hit out. LOVE-15 was the score. And that's how my 3-set match started. She was tough, and I didn't feel at all comfortable with a crowd watching and the coach observing. Yeah, the coach was watching my match. The pressure!_

_Finally, it was 2-1. It was game point for me, 40-30. She served it and I barely was able to return it. Her serves were fast. She hit it and I forehanded it back. She did a backswing and I had to run after the ball, before hitting it. _

_It hit the net!_

_The ball reflected on the net and bounced into the air._

_Falling, falling…_

_And it hit on my opponents side!_

"YES!" Joy exclaimed throwing her arms up in the air in victory.

"Out!" Joy stopped her jumping and gawked at the coach. "It hit the line and out. Deuce!"

_I ended up losing. She won with three games. It was weird, I just started losing focus on the game and my mind wandered. It went by so fast, I didn't even realize what I was thinking about._

"Great work today, girls! The list will be posted in front of the cafeteria tomorrow. If you didn't make it, I'm sorry, and for the girls that made it on the team, good job!"

* * *

"Oh my gosh! Please don't tell me you're having a crush on Ricky again!" Amy cried. 

Amy, Joy, Kairi, Namine, Kristina, and Stacie were all in Joy's dorm. They noticed how Joy has stayed in her dorm more often now. Joy was sitting on her bed, her pillow held tightly against her chest. Stacie was leaning on the wall while sitting on Joy's bed as well, while Kairi sat on the edge of the bed, Cookie in her lap. Amy was on the computer while Namine and Kristina sat on Roxas' bed.

It's been three weeks since they came. As for the tennis tryouts, they all made it on the team besides Namine and Selphie, they just weren't tennis girls. One more week, and the four foreign exchange students will be leaving, **December 1****st**. They didn't have any Thanksgiving break because the school thought it wasn't an important holiday.

"No!" Joy replied instantly. A few seconds later, "Maybe…I don't know!" Joy was confused.

"What do you mean you don't know!? It's a yes or no question, Joy." Kristina said.

"I don't know okay!" Joy countered, "I'm really confused right now. My feelings are all mixed up."

"Geez Joy, get your feelings out! Just let it all out, right now." Stacie instructed Joy.

"Well, I'm sorry for being like this. My head is just really jumbled up right now."

"Wait a minute, you _used _to have a crush on Ricky?" Kairi suddenly asked.

"Yeah…" Joy replied in a slightly shameful tone.

"What happened before?" Namine asked this time, looking up from her sketch book.

"I told him how I felt… he rejected me…"

"He was a jerk!" Amy exclaimed, "He was a great friend to Joy, and at one point, he even said that he loved her! And he goes all 'no we should be friends', it's so stupid!"

"He meant as a friend Amy," Joy reminded her best friend.

"Then he shouldn't have said it! Normal guys would've been like avoiding that," Amy explained. "He even bought you a necklace for your birthday! It said '_love_' on it!"

"I gave it back to him, remember? Besides, that doesn't even matter. He has a girlfriend now, doesn't he? I saw his crush," Joy started, turning to Kristina.

"Yeah. They got together, but they broke up after awhile," Kristina answered.

"Oh, I see," Joy said, dropping the subject.

* * *

Roxas was walking toward the dormitories from the park. He just wanted to go back to his dorm, and pass out on his bed. He was exhausted, he was playing basketball with the other guys, but, something was bugging him. Usually, he would be in the zone and be playing really well, but during the game earlier, he missed every single shot he threw at the hoop. It was a disaster for his team and an embarrassment to himself. 

During his walk, his mind kept replaying the conversation he had with his friends earlier.

"**Roxas, your head's not in the game," Sora told his cousin.**

"**Sorry guys, I'm just a little off today." Roxas replied, drinking some water.**

"**A little? You missed every shot," Hayner exclaimed.**

**Roxas didn't say anything. He just sighed, "It's about Joy, isn't it?" His cousin asked. He didn't say again. "You're really in love with her, aren't you?"**

"**No!" Roxas snapped at him.**

"**Roxas," the aforementioned guy turned his head around to Riku, "if you don't love her, you're falling for her, **_**hard**_**."**

"**And you're going to lose her if you don't do something about it now," Hayner abruptly said.**

"**What do you mean I'm going to lose her?" Roxas asked.**

"**Have you not seen that Ricky guy? He's like been all over her these past few weeks! And I think, despite how much I don't want to say it, Joy is starting to like him. They're spending enough time together to make something spark between them."**

**Roxas stared intently at the ground. "You know, you're not making this any better, Hayner."**

"**Hey, I never said I was going to cheer you up."**

Roxas knew Hayner was right. Of course he noticed the time that was being spent between Joy and Ricky, and he knew the past between her and Ricky. Needless to say, he noticed how Joy laughed and smiled at Ricky, and he was beginning to feel that she does it more to Ricky than she does toward himself. His blood boiled every time Ricky would touch her, get so close to her, just being with her made him fill up with jealousy even if he didn't show it. But what's eating at him is the fact that Joy seems to be okay with it.

"Hey Roxas!"

Roxas swiftly turned his head to find Ricky running toward him. "What?"

"I have a question."

"I'm listening."

Ricky took a moment to stare at the dormitories building before asking, "What's your relationship with Joy?"

Roxas was taken back by the sudden question, "I'm just her friend."

"Really?" Ricky asked, walking next to Roxas.

"Yeah."

"So, if I was to tell her that I loved her, you wouldn't do anything?"

Subconsciously, Roxas felt his hand clench tightly. His blood was boiling again, but with much more than just anger. He faced back toward the dormitory building and started walking, "Do what you like."

He didn't see it, but Ricky was smirking behind him.

Roxas was mad. He didn't want Ricky to confess to Joy. It's going to ruin everything for him. Once at the door to his dorm, he heard voices inside his room. Taking out his ID card, he placed a hand on the doorknob to ready himself to open it when he heard someone say something he did not want to hear.

"I think I _do_ have feelings for Ricky… again."

Roxas knew that voice. It belonged to Joy.

His hand went weak and it dropped from the doorknob. He slowly trudged down the hallway, away from his dorm.

* * *

"_**WHAT?!**_" Amy exclaimed, "You have got to be kidding me!" 

"I don't know…" Joy replied. The moment she said she had feelings for Ricky, her heart felt like a piece had been broken off. She felt a dull ache inside of her.

_Why… why does my heart feel like it's being torn apart? Does that mean I don't really have feelings for him? Maybe I'm just reliving the feeling and it'll just go away. I don't know… my mind just flashed to Roxas right now. I felt water filling up my eyes and I hid behind my pillow to cover my eyes. What _are_ my feelings toward Roxas?_

* * *

Roxas knocked on a door and saw Pence open it. "Hey Roxas." 

"Can I come in?"

"Sure," Pence opened the door for him and went to his computer. Roxas went in after and closed the door. "Where's Hayner?"

"Should be arriving here any minute." Roxas acknowledged what he said and collapsed on Hayner's bed. He knew his best friend wouldn't mind much. "Whoa, you okay Roxas?"

"No."

"What's up?"

At that precise moment, the door made the familiar _click_ sound and Hayner went through the door. Upon seeing someone on his bed, he asked, "What's eating him?"

"I don't know." Pence said to his roommate.

Hayner walked up next to the head and started shaking Roxas, "Okay, come on Roxas, spill."

Roxas' face was on the pillow and you could only hear his muffled voice. Hayner leaned in a bit just to try to hear his words. "What's he saying?" Pence asked.

"Ricky…love…Joy…feelings…back…" Hayner straightened up, but still had a confused expression.

Pence pondered over the words before saying intelligently, "Ricky is going to tell Joy that he loves her… and Joy has feelings for him back?"

Roxas didn't say anything so Pence knew he was right. "Dude that sucks, you have to tell her first," Hayner told Roxas.

"And tell her what?" Roxas asked, looking up from the pillow.

"Your feelings! It's obvious she likes you, too."

"No she doesn't," Roxas denied.

"Putting that aside," Pence intervened before Hayner could say anything, "are you going to do anything about Ricky and Joy?"

Roxas sighed, "I just want her to be happy."

"Don't you love her, Roxas?" Hayner asked.

"For the last time, I don't love her!" Roxas snapped.

"Doesn't matter. You have feelings for her; you're just going to leave them be if she says yes to that guy?"

"If she's happy, than yes."

"You're willing to put her own happiness before your own?"

"Yeah."

"That's love right there." Pence added in.

Before Roxas could go into denial again, Hayner exclaimed, "That's not love! That's stupidity. We all know Ricky is not the right guy for Joy. Roxas, you've been _falling_ for the girl for a month! You should be getting back her love from him!"

"Tell her how you feel, Roxas," Pence advised.

"It'll just ruin everything for her." Roxas said.

"How do you know that?"

"I just do." Roxas said firmly, though he didn't.

* * *

The sun was starting to set and all the girls had left Joy alone in her dorm to think things over. But she didn't have a lot of time to think because she had to open her door that was currently being knocked upon. Behind the door, she saw Ricky there. "May I help you?" 

"Come and walk with me?" He said it in a demanding tone.

"Oh, well…" Joy started hesitantly.

"Please? I need to talk to you," He said more pleadingly.

Giving in, she said, "Oh, alright. I guess it couldn't hurt."

Joy got her jacket and they both walked into the hallway and started heading for the exit. In the hallway, the two saw Roxas walking down the hallway. "Hey Roxas," Joy greeted.

The said boy looked up and stared at the two. "Hey, where are you going?" He only directed the question toward Joy.

"Oh, we're going for a walk. Don't worry, we'll be back in time for dinner." Joy reassured Roxas.

Roxas nodded and walked toward his dorm. Joy and Ricky continued walking, but Ricky quickly glanced behind him and found Roxas glaring icily at him.

* * *

"So, tell me why we're out here?" Joy started. They were walking through the park at the moment, sun beginning to set in the background.

"First of all, I just want to apologize." He said, facing the girl.

Joy looked at him in puzzlement, "For what?"

"For rejecting you and realizing my mistake. You see, I did get together with my crush at that time. But, every time we hung out, I just kept thinking about you."

Joy froze at what he said, her eyes looking at him disbelievingly.

"_You_ were on my mind every single hour, day, and week. I kept remembering all the times we had together, all the laughs we shared, all the smiles you've put on my face. I've missed you so much ever since you've left my life. And you know, right before I went on this foreign exchange, she dumped me. But I didn't really care. All I thought of was you. That is why I came here, to see you, and _only_ you."

Joy stared at him. She looked away toward the ground before asking softly, "What are you trying to say?"

Ricky grabbed Joy's shoulders and made her look at him, "I love you, Joy." Joy's eyes widened. "I realized I loved you when I made that mistake of saying no to you. When you told me that you liked me, I didn't believe it. But now I do, and I know now that I love you. I love you, Joy."

* * *

**Chapter 10 Preview**

_"I don't believe you."__  
_

_"**AHHHHHHHHHH**!"_

_"We need to find Joy!"_

_"You don't love her like I do!"_

_"You're right."_

_"I'm leaving."_

* * *

Hope you liked it! The preview wasn't much of a preview, but something for you to get an idea of :) Wanted to try something new! 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I need **critism**! To be a _better_ writer!

Although, compliments are wanted as well ;) Pretty please?

I'm thinking of making a RoxasxOC oneshot, of course not related to this story. I'm not sure if anyone will read it, so if you want me to make it, review and tell me :)) Support me more and tell your friends about me!


	11. Joy

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP In the last chapter, there was a preview...one of the quotes aren't going to be used in this chapter. That was my bad xP Don't hurt me

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Stacie, Fernando, Kristina, and Ricky Tang

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, an anonymous person, Evil-Sama, and Minakui  
Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Ten**_  
**Joy**

"W…what?"

Ricky smiled in triumph and leaned in closer to the seemingly frozen girl, "I. Love. You."

Joy couldn't speak. Her mind was screaming at her to say something, _anything_ would be good at this point. But she couldn't, she could only stare at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. She couldn't tell him she felt the same way... Because she didn't. She didn't _love_ him. Ricky leaned in more in an attempt to kiss the girl, but was pushed away before he was even an inch from her.

"Ricky…I don't believe you." She didn't regret saying it. She didn't take it back, because she knew it was true. She didn't believe him.

Ricky stared at her in shock. "Huh?"

"I don't believe you love me. You probably think you do, but you don't." Joy said simply.

"What?!" This guy just expressed his feelings to a girl he loved and she was saying she didn't believe him? Ricky knew it wasn't suppose to be like this.

"You said you started thinking of me when you got together with your crush. That was probably right after I told you my feelings, huh?"

The confused expression stayed on his face, "I don't get where you're going with this."

"You know what I think? I think you feel sorry for me. You felt sorry for me because you knew how hurt I was. How much _you_ hurt me." Joy looked down and started shaking her head, "You don't love me. You feel _sorry_ for me. And to rid your guilt, you think saying you _love_ me and I say yes, you're conscious would be free. You probably thought of doing all this because she dumped you. _Only_ until she dumped you." Ricky's jaw dropped and his eyes widened, "That's not love, Ricky. And I'm not going to pretend to love you just to make _you_ happy."

"Whoa whoa, Joy. You're - " Ricky started but was interrupted.

"Ricky," she started firmly, "my feelings for you started and ended in my past. I'm not going to relive my past and get hurt all over again. Don't lie to me because I know you will if I said yes to you."

"This is because of Roxas, huh?" He assumed.

Joy looked up at him in bewilderment, "This has nothing to do with Roxas!"

"You're getting defensive. Do you like him?"

Joy was surprised by the unexpected question. "Of course I like him, he's my friend."

"Don't give me that again, Joy." Ricky was serious. "You know what I mean."

"Look," Joy said, putting a hand on Ricky's chest in an attempt to push him away, "I don't know why you're all of a sudden changing the subject but you know my answer to your feelings. If you've got nothing else to say to me, than I'm going."

The sun was already gone and the sky had turned twilight. Joy hastily walked away from Ricky who just stood in the same place, not even watching Joy leave.

Joy felt victorious, in a way. She was right about Ricky, she just knew it. Her feelings for him were just a past feeling trying to creep back into her life. But she didn't let it, and she felt even better. Now, she couldn't wait for Ricky to leave.

* * *

"Hey, anyone know where Fernando is?" Stacie asked out of the blue.

"I think he's with Namine," Kristina said.

"He's been hanging out with her a lot lately, hasn't he?"

"Well, Fernando has a crush on her, so why wouldn't he?"

"Are you serious?! Fernando likes Namine??" Amy exclaimed.

"Yeah, you didn't know that?"

"No!" Amy cried.

"Oh, well now you know." Kristina simply said.

Kristina started walking faster down the hall, ahead of Amy and Stacie and when she was about to turn down another hall, she froze. Shrieking, she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh!"

"Hm? What's wrong, Kristina?" Amy asked, catching up with the screaming girl. Amy turned her attention toward the hall and screamed. "Fernando! Namine!"

"What happened?" Stacie rushed to the scene and saw what was going on. Fernando and Namine were close to each other. Namine's hands were on Fernando's shoulders and from their positions, it looked as if they've just been kissing. Which is probably what they were doing. "Oh my gosh, I was not expecting this. I mean, I expected Kristina to be making out with Marluxia, but _Fernando_? And _Namine_?"

"Hey!" Kristina objected, pointing at Stacie, "I was not 'making out' with him, I was just kissing him!"

"Yeah, whatever." Stacie said walk away toward the window, avoiding the scene.

"Since when was this going on?" Amy barked at the now blushing couple.

As Fernando and Namine were explaining to Amy and Kristina what exactly was going on (even though they didn't have much to explain), Stacie stood next to the window, looking out into the evening. It was starting to get dark as she saw the moon becoming brighter in the sky. She shifted her gaze toward the ground and saw the familiar blue-green color hair that belonged to her friend walking toward the dormitories. Stacie was about to call Joy when she saw a man come up to her. They talked for a few seconds before Stacie sees the man take hold of Joy's arm. Her eyes widened even more when she saw the man forcefully pull Joy and throw her over his shoulder.

"**AHHHHHHHHHH**!" Stacie screeched.

"What? What? What's wrong, Stacie? Is there a fire?" Kristina said, looking at her surroundings.

"Joy's been kidnapped!" Stacie shouted, pointing down, out the window.

"_**WHAT**_?!" They all ran to the window just in time to see the kidnapper run away from their view, Joy on his shoulder pounding at his back and thrashing her feet. The kidnapper stopped and hit the back of Joy's neck, causing her to fall unconscious.

"JOY!" Namine cried.

Amy turned to her right, "Stacie, Namine, go tell the others, tell the principal and tell him to call the police. Fernando, Kristina, and I will go and find Joy. Got it?" The two nodded and the other three ran off while Stacie and Namine ran off to their friends' dorms.

* * *

Sora and Riku were in their dorm, just playing some video games.

"I am so going to win, Sora!" Riku said as his character punched Sora's.

"I don't think so!" Sora countered with his own character's attack. Their game playing was interrupted with banging on the door.

"OPEN UP! SORA! RIKU! COME ON!"

Sora rapidly headed for the door and opened it, "What's with the shouting, Stacie?"

"JOY'S BEEN KIDNAPPED!"

"WHAT?!" The two boys exclaimed.

* * *

Namine knocked loudly on Pence's door which he opened, "Joy's been kidnapped!"

"Are you serious!?" Pence shouted in disbelief.

"Yes! Come on!"

* * *

Stacie took out her cell phone from her pocket and punched some buttons and put her ear against it. After a few rings, she said, "Hello? Kairi! Joy's been kidnapped!"

- "I'm not kidding!"

- "Where are you?"

- "Is Olette with you?"

- "I don't know! Look everywhere or something! _Anything_!"

* * *

"Roxas, you are seriously a bonehead." Hayner said to his best friend from Roxas' floor.

"Give it a rest, will you?" Roxas exasperated from his bed.

"I can't believe you're letting someone take your girl away," Hayner continued.

"She was never 'my girl', Hayner." Roxas simply said, his hand in his pocket, fingering the object within it.

"That's what I'm saying! If you'd have told her first, she'd be - "

Banging was heard on the door. "Roxas! Roxas! You in there?!"

"Yeah, I'm here!" Roxas, recognizing the voice of Namine, got off his bed and opened the door. Namine was panting, it seemed she was running everywhere, but she had an urgent expression on her face. "What's wrong?"

"Joy's been kidnapped!" Namine cried at Roxas.

Roxas' eyes broadened in shock, "WHAT?! Kidnapped?!"

"We need to find Joy!" Namine told Roxas as Stacie passed by. "Stacie and I will tell the principal. The others are already out and looking for Joy and the kidnapper," Namine explained, "Go and find her! We're going to get the police!" And with that, Namine went after Stacie and they both went toward the offices.

Roxas clenched his fist, _'I should have been there.'_ Turning to Hayner, he said, "Come on Hayner, we need to find Joy." Hayner nodded and they both ran out the door, running as fast as they could out the building and search for their 'Joy to the World' friend.

* * *

"Riku!"

Riku turned to the voice and found Amy running toward him. "Amy! Did you find her?"

"And the kidnapper?" Sora beseeched.

"No," Amy's eyes were starting to get watery, "we couldn't find the kidnapper or Joy."

"Where's Fernando and Kristina?" Pence asked this time.

"They ran off in different directions, trying to search the whole school area. It wasn't too long ago, the kidnapper must still be here!" Amy was starting to cry.

Riku pulled the teary-eyed girl toward him, wrapping his arms around her in a comforting way. "We're going to find her, Amy," he said soothingly in her ear, running a hand through her hair.

"What if we don't?" Amy asked in a voice barely above a whisper against Riku's chest. She was crying, crying for her best friend. Joy was practically her sister, she didn't want to lose anymore family.

"Don't worry Amy, we'll find her!" Sora exclaimed. Pence nodded and the two of them ran off in different directions to other parts of the school.

Riku and Amy stayed in their position for a moment before Amy rubbed her eyes from tears and she looked up at Riku. They both nodded, and hand in hand, they ran out of the campus to search in the town.

* * *

The principal usually stays late in the school building, knowing that students would want to go to his office even in the late evening. So, when Stacie and Namine barged into his office, it was no surprise for Principal Ansem. "What can I do for you girls?"

"Mr. Ansem, Joy's been kidnapped!!" Namine exclaimed at her principal.

Principal Ansem stood up from his chair in alert, "Kidnapped?! Are you sure?"

"Of course we're sure! I witnessed it!" Stacie told him.

"You need to call the police, Mr. Ansem!" Namine wailed.

Mr. Ansem didn't need to be telling twice. Doing as he was told, he phoned the police. After a few minutes of talking, he hung up and faced the girls, "The police are on their way."

* * *

_**I can't believe I just let them go off like that! I should have been there! To protect her! I should've listened to Hayner and followed after the two. That way I could have been there and saved her before she got caught! URGH! Why wasn't Ricky there?!**_

Speaking of which, Roxas nearly ran into him at that moment. "Did you find Joy?" Roxas asked, frantically, totally forgetting his unknown hate for Ricky.

Ricky glared at Roxas before grabbing his shirt. "Look," he started, his tone as cold as ice, "_I'm _the one going to find Joy, not _you_."

"You can't stop me from looking for her. She's my friend!" Roxas defended, trying to make Ricky's arm to let go of him.

Ricky just tightened his grip on Roxas, "I've seen how you stare at her from afar, and I think you're using this situation to your advantage."

"What are you talking about? Let go of me! I don't have time for this!"

"You're going to try and be her knight in shining armor, huh?" Roxas stared at Ricky in disbelief. "News flash, _Roxas_," he said his name as if it was disgusting to even say him name, "_I'm_ going to be her **prince**! Not _you_!"

After a few seconds of figuring out what he blurting at him, Roxas shook his head and finally was able to get Ricky's grip off of him. Roxas stared at him. The way Ricky had just shouted at him barely held any concern or reasoning. It almost sounded unreal. "It didn't go too well between you and Joy, huh?"

For the moment, Ricky didn't have a comeback. His expression turned to hate and he pushed Roxas roughly, "You don't love her like I do!"

Roxas stayed strong on his feet. He pondered over what Ricky had just thrown at him. He looked down and let his mind run wild for a second. His heart started beating faster at the thought of Joy and that's when something clicked in his mind.

_**I'm in love with Joy.**_

Roxas looked up at Ricky, his expression determined, and looked up at Ricky dead in the eye. "You're right." Ricky, taken aback, stared at him. "I don't love her like _you_ do." Ricky's face turned to that of victorious, "That's because _**I**_ love her the way _**I**_ do." Ricky instantly dropped his mouth into a frown.

Roxas continued with a strong voice, "Does your heartbeat quicken every time you're around her?"

…_and before I knew it, I was staring into violet colored eyes.  
**My heart was going haywire at that moment.**_

"When your hand touches hers, does a chill go up your spine, yet yearn for more?"

_Once Joy was sitting upright, she quickly let go of his hand.  
**I wish I was still holding that soft hand.**_

"Would you do anything just to be near her, touch her, make her happy?"

"_You're willing to put her happiness before your own?"  
**I just want her to be happy.**_

"No, you don't. Eyes can't lie, and I'm telling the truth."

"_She is _nothing_ like Jun."  
**Nothing like Jun.**_

"What about you? Are you really in love with her? Or do you just think you do?"

"_So, if I was to tell her that I loved her, you wouldn't do anything?"  
**The way he said it, didn't sound as if he really loved her.**_

Ricky froze where he was. Roxas knew he had got him thinking and took the chance to run away. That conversation took at least ten minutes of his time to search for Joy. _He_ was going to find her, and no one was going to stop him, _not even _an idiot like Ricky Tang.

* * *

Eyes little by little fluttered open as the body bounced up and down. When her eyes were finally open, it took her a second to get her vision clear to notice that she was staring at black clothing material. _'Where am…I?'_ She thought as she looked at her surroundings. The scenery around her was passing by as she felt herself moving away. She didn't know what was going on, she was being carried that's for sure… but to where?

_DING DING DING!_

_I'M BEING KIDNAPPED!_

"LET ME GO!" Joy screamed, pounding on the back of her snatcher. "UGH!" Joy thrashed around. Suddenly, she was thrown on the ground and she looked up to find a pistol against her forehead. Her eyes widened in both fear and shock as the man in front of her gave her an icy stare.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of her face as the man in front of her said, "Shut up."

* * *

"I'm here, what's going on?" Roxas asked, finally making it back to the school campus. There were police cars all surrounding the school building and police around the area. He found all his friends here, scattered everywhere. A few students from the dormitories came out to see what all the commotion was about.

"I saw the kidnapper run into the school building, he had Joy over his shoulder," Fernando informed Roxas. "But he shut the door before I could catch up to him. And he locked the door before I could try to open it."

"Does anyone have a clue who the kidnapper is?" Roxas demanded.

"No, we don't Roxas." Namine told him. Roxas started fuming, "Roxas, calm down. We're going to save her."

"What happened to the others?"

"Stacie and Kristina are being interrogated by the police. Riku is trying to comfort Amy and the others are near the building. They're trying to find a way in."

"Trying to find a way in?" Roxas asked.

"The kidnapper barricaded all the doors in the school building." Roxas turned his head and saw Axel, Larxene, Zexion, and Demyx walking up to him.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Hey, Joy's our friend too," Demyx replied.

"Yeah, you think we're going to forget a weird girl like Joy?"

Roxas felt the corners of his mouth tug up and he nodded at his senior friends, "Thanks guys."

"Hey, I'm a girl. And we're not doing it for _you_," Larxene spoke up as she crossed her arms, smirking at Roxas' expression, "we're here to keep Joy in the world."

Roxas' expression softened. Even though she didn't act it, Larxene looked out after Joy like a big sister. "Thanks," Roxas modestly said.

"Mr. Ansem!" Amy screeched, running toward her principal with her tear-stained face, Riku right behind her. The others turned their head as they saw their raven-haired friend run to the principal.

"What is it, Amy?" Mr. Ansem asked her with concern.

"Joy's on the roof! I can see her hair!"

All attention was turned to the top of the structure. "Put the spotlight on the top of the roof," Mr. Ansem ordered to a policeman. The policeman mumbled into the radio and the helicopter's spotlight went straight for the building. Once the light was on the four-story building, they saw it.

Joy's long hair was slightly messed up, and it seemed that her hands were tied behind her back.

Even though she was on the edge of the building, that wasn't exactly the real danger at hand to see from down below nor was it the guy that stood next to her, clad in black and had long gray hair.

No, it was the fact that the people down below could see he had a gun right against the side of her head, pointed right next to her brain.

* * *

**Chapter 11 Preview: **

(A/N: All in Joy's point of view now)

_I'm so scared! Never in my life have I've ever been in this position. You know how hard it is not to look down?! I have a bit of a fright for heights, so you can't blame me! I wish Roxas was here... I'm really really scared. He has a gun to my freakin' head! And what is this? Mr. Ansem knows this goon??_

* * *

Hope you liked it!

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I need **critism**! To be a _better_ writer!

Although, compliments are wanted as well ;) Pretty please?

Still thinking of making a RoxasxOC oneshot, of course not related to this story. I'm not sure if anyone will read it, so if you want me to make it, review and tell me. Support me by telling your friends about me and this story:)


	12. Hostage

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Stacie, Fernando, Kristina, and Ricky Tang

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, an anonymous person, Evil-Sama, and Minakui  
Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Eleven**_  
**Hostage**

Everyone stared in horror as their joyful friend stood at the edge of her life, trying to scream but couldn't due to a cloth tied around her mouth. The man that was next to her, looked down at his 'audience' with his yellow snake eyes. He had on a smug expression, still holding the pistol to Joy's head. Some students screamed in fear for their schoolmate while others stood there shocked on the spot.

Ansem stared at the man with mixed emotions and anxiously said, "Xehanort."

"Xehanort?" Riku asked from next to him.

"Do you know him, Mr. Ansem?" A policeman near Mr. Ansem asked.

"…He was a teacher here."

"He _was_ a teacher here?!" Fernando exclaimed in surprise.

"He did a crime in my school and I let him go," Mr. Ansem simply said.

"Now that wasn't smart, was it Mr. Ansem?" Larxene told him.

Ignoring the student, Mr. Ansem grabbed the nearest megaphone and aimed it toward the building. "Xehanort! Put the gun down," he ordered to the kidnapper.

"Five years has passed, Ansem." His voice was filled with malice and it caused Joy to involuntarily shudder next to him. "And now, I have finally - "

"Xehanort!" A policewoman called from the megaphone, "Drop the gun and tell us what you want!"

Xehanort's golden yellow eyes leisurely turned to the policewoman. Joy felt beads of sweat roll down the side of her face as she looked down, suddenly realizing at this moment that she was afraid of heights. Even though she was afraid, Joy couldn't help but continue gaping at all the people that had gathered down below. She saw the familiar hair of Ricky Tang as he walked in on the scene, heading toward Fernando.

"What's going on?" Ricky asked Fernando, looking up at the two above.

"Joy's being held hostage," Fernando answered. Turning to him, Fernando asked, "Where have you been?"

"In town." He simply said.

"Drop the gun!" The same policewoman ordered. All the police had started getting out their own guns and weapons, and started aiming at the kidnapper up on top. Almost carelessly, Xehanort shook his head like an egghead that he was and dropped the gun, causing it to fall all the way down to the ground level.

"Xehanort," Ansem yelled, getting the said guy's attention, "why are you here?"

Xehanort straightened his posture, even though there was nothing to be perfected, he gave off an air of superiority. "Ansem, of all people, I thought that _you_ would know why _I'm_ here." Ansem frowned at the statement and continued to stare determinedly at Xehanort as he continued, "Revenge, Ansem. _Revenge_."

"Revenge?" Roxas asked Mr. Ansem who just continued to hold onto his stare at Xehanort.

"Roxas!" Axel whispered harshly, tugging on the back of Roxas' shirt. Roxas turned around and saw Axel nodding his head toward behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Roxas saw some other seniors running to the building without others noticing. Seeing their intentions, Roxas nodded to Axel and they both ran off as well.

"Why do you seek revenge, Xehanort?" Ansem shouted to kidnapper.

Xehanort's stare turned into a piercing glare. "Let's see," he started, reaching in for his back pocket, "if _this_," and he swiftly brought out a switchblade in his right hand, it's metal glistening in the spotlight, "will jog your memory."

"**JOOOOY**!" Her friends screamed (mainly Stacie, Amy, and Kristina), as Xehanort grabbed a fistful of Joy's long sea foam hair and pulled her to him causing her to nearly fall off backwards off the wall and back on roof level, the blade of his knife pressed against the flesh of her neck. A muffled scream was heard from the hostage as tears streamed down her face.

"He has another weapon!" The authority screamed, "Break into the building!" The police went to every entrance around the building and tried breaking in.

"Nobody move!" Xehanort ordered, "Or I'll slice her head off!" To emphasize his point, he pulled on her hair even more and Joy screamed even louder, feeling the sharp blade's pressure on her neck even more. Slowly, the police lowered their weapons in defeat.

* * *

"Hurry up Demyx!" 

In the dark hallways of the school building, the moon's light reflected into a window. The beam going through the glass and hitting the floor. A shadow cast over it and the next second, the window was crashed open. Glass shards scattered everywhere as it made clinking noises against the tiled floor. A log that was used to smash into the window hit the opposing wall and fell as well to the ground. Six pairs of feet jumped through, five boys and a girl.

"Why didn't the police just break the window? Police these days are idiots," a feminine voice rang through the halls.

"Let's split up, he might've barricaded more hallways." A voice suggested, "That way we can reach the roof faster."

"Fine, whatever! One goes that way, the other up the stairs and last go the other way," another voice ordered. The others murmured their replies and the six split up into three groups, one going left, one up the stairs, and the last going right. Each direction going toward another flight of stairs. Each pair headed to the roof, where they were going to save a life.

* * *

_I was scared. No, scratch that. I was frightened to the point that I wanted to go to the bathroom. It's not funny. First having a gun pointed to your head, now a _**sharp**_ knife pressed against your neck, it's __**very**__ scary. To top it all off, the police can't even help you because you're being used as a freakin' HOSTAGE! I can see my life flash before my eyes. _

_I can't leave like this! I still have to go through my life! I'm only sixteen! There are still many things I haven't done in my life, yet; I haven't had my first boyfriend, haven't been on a date yet, I haven't even gotten my first kiss yet! What's going to happen to me?_

_If these are my last moments, I might as well look at everyone before I go. I'm looking down. I see nearly everyone I knew. My friends, people I knew, Mr. Ansem, and even my enemies came. Everyone was staring at me with a scared look._

_..Hey.._

_Where's Rox -_

Unexpectedly, Joy felt her hands free from the rope. On reflex, she grabbed the arm with the knife and tried to pull it away from her neck. Yet, he was too strong for Joy. He merely pressed the metal of the blade intensely against her neck. "Keep struggling, then the police will find more than just a cut off head." Joy ceased her pulling and stared at him with fearful violet eyes. She unconsciously started lessening her breathing.

That's when a familiar voice was heard, and in a deadly tone said, "Let Joy go, or I'll blow your brains out. Got it memorized?"

Recognizing the voice, the hostage breathlessly said, "Axel," Joy could barely talk, "how… did you… get up here?"

"Long story; smashed a window," was his only explanation, and he still had narrowed eyes toward Xehanort.

Joy slowly glanced to her right. It was Axel, and he had a gun to the kidnapper's head, just like he had done to Joy. She felt the hold on her hair and neck loosen. Keeping the knife still in place, Xehanort scoffed and then chuckled. "Do you really think _you_ can shoot me? A mere child?"

_Click._

"If Axel can't, _**I**_ can." Everyone saw the antenna blonde haired girl that was Larxene and watched as she put another gun against Xehanort's neck behind him.

"Larxene!" Joy exclaimed.

"Hey shrimp, sorry it took me awhile to get up here. The rest of us had to split up just to get up here," while explaining what had happened, Larxene never took her eyes off of Xehanort. "Release her," she said in a deadly tone.

"And if I refuse?" He asked nonchalantly.

Larxene narrowed her green eyes at his calm response and moved the gun down to align with his heart. Her frown turned into a smirk and her narrowed eyes turned to that of cynical. "You know, I always wondered how it felt to murder someone. Maybe I'll get my chance tonight."

Xehanort gritted his teeth in annoyance. He wasn't about to let his plan go down the drain because of stupid high school students. Keeping a firm grip on the knife, he pulled harder on Joy's hair causing her to yelp in pain and close her eyes tightly. "Didn't you hear me?!" Larxene exclaimed but was suddenly kicked backwards forcing her to drop her weapon.

"Larxene!" Axel shouted but he too was kicked backwards by Xehanort.

Xehanort hastily turned around, his grip tightly on Joy and started readying his weapon, his eyes full of malevolence, "Say goodbye to your little friend - "

Joy still had her eyes closed and could see her memories rush through the inside of her eyes. _'Is this the - '_

_**CLANG. THUD.**_

"Too late."

_I was confused. Did I die? Did he kill me? How come I didn't feel any slice against my throat? Many questions ran through me as I refused to open my eyes. I felt my mouth relax as the binding material that was around it loosened and fell out.  
_

"Sorry it took us awhile, we got lost for a minute. You two okay?"

_The first voice sounded close. The second voice sounded farther away. But they were both familiar sounding. My confusion faded away as I gradually opened my eyes. I was half-expecting to see white clouds or the lord, thinking I was in heaven. Or the gates to a magical place. Maybe even two paths that lead to heaven or hell. I thought I would see _at least_ blue skies._

_Well to say the least, what I saw was close to my assumption. I saw concerned sky blue eyes in front of me. It was _him.

"Roxas!" Reacting on instincts, Joy latched onto her sandy blonde savior and buried her face into his chest. Joy felt the tears that were building within her all this time unleash themselves and they fell freely down from her eyes onto Roxas' shirt, her sobs muffled against his chest. Ignoring his becoming damp shirt, Roxas wrapped an arm around the fragile girl to keep her steady as he ran his other hand soothingly through her long hair. "I thought I was going to die…" She softly continued, her sobs quieting down.

"Shh…" Roxas tried to console her, continuing to run his hand through her hair, "It's all over now."

"What took you two so long?" Axel asked Demyx, as he was lifted up from the ground.

"Well, heroes arrive at the last minute, don't they?" Demyx replied, scratching the back of his neck.

"Only for this moment, I won't hurt you, Demyx," Larxene said as Axel pulled her to stand up.

"What moment?" Larxene faced a direction, indicating toward the couple in front of her.

The trio looked to Roxas and Joy with a smile(Axel with a smirk). The kidnapper was next to them, down on the floor in a pathetic position and holding his stomach where Roxas had punched him with incredible force that knocked the wind out of him causing Xehanort, awhile ago, to drop the knife and release his hold on Joy in order to clutch his stomach to ease the pain.

"Hey, anyone know where Zexion and Marluxia are?" Demyx suddenly asked.

Axel shrugged and replied carelessly, "The way they went must've been blocked."

Larxene snorted at the though, "What losers."

At that moment, they heard a gasp near them and turned their attention back to the couple. Their eyes widened shocked at what laid before them. Xehanort had somehow gotten up and split the couple apart, pushing Roxas furiously away before gripping, once again, on Joy's hair forcefully.

"Joy!" The three seniors yelled.

"Let her go!" Roxas was about to run another punch to the kidnapper, but he was stopped.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he started and that's when Roxas saw the knife that had somehow ended up in Xehanort's hand and he aimed the weapon to the back of her neck.

Roxas froze on the spot, afraid of endangering Joy's life. Axel, Demyx, and Larxene, who were about to rush to rescue Joy also stopped in mid-step. "Why do you need Joy?! Release her!" Larxene shouted.

"You all seem to care deeply about this little girl, especially _you_." He swerved his snake like eyes to Roxas who in return narrowed his own eyes in a deadly glare, his fists were so tightly clenched that his knuckles were turning white. "What a lovely moment you two had. Very _sweet_."

_I looked from Roxas to the others. They all had the same look; fear. But their own fear was me dying. I felt so useless. I didn't want to die! What could I do? A knife is being pointed at my neck and I'm afraid that if I move a centimeter, the blade will stick in me and hit a vein in my neck!_

_..I feel so useless, weak, stupid. Like I didn't know anything. I want to contribute somehow to this…_

Joy felt her hands clench into a fist as a low growl emitted from her throat. The next thing was what surprised everyone on the roof. The once fragile girl raised her leg and stomped **hard** on Xehanort's foot, causing him to hiss in pain and lower the knife away from her neck. Leaving an opening, Joy elbowed him in the gut. Xehanort, for the second time in a row, held his stomach. Joy was about to run off if his hand wasn't still holding on to her hair.

"Stupid… girl… do you really… think…" Xehanort regained his composure a bit, "I would let go of you _that_ easily?" Joy glared at him. From that moment, Joy was had added something new to her personality. "Do you?" He asked again, bringing his face closer to her to give her a sneered look.

_Spit._

Saliva splattered across Xehanort's face. "Stupid girl!" He yelled enraged as he raised his weapon.

"Joy!" Roxas cried, starting to run toward her.

Joy tried to run, moving away from Xehanort, pulling away as hard as she could muster. She was reaching a hand out for Roxas. Unfortunately, when she was moving, Xehanort's knife ended up being next to her hair, and swiping the blade, it ripped through Joy's blue hair. Even though it meant sacrificing her hair, Joy was able to escape from his grip and ran back into Roxas' arms who securely wrapped them around her.

Xehanort glared at the reunited couple and threw the cut off hair to the floor, letting out an anguish cry. Before he could shout out in fury, they heard, "Freeze! And drop your weapon!" A demand was heard.

It was the police.

"Not a minute too late," Axel said, getting out of the way for the police to surround the kidnapper. Marluxia and Zexion appeared behind them. "So, that's where you two went."

"We got the blocked hallway," Zexion started.

"And we knew that you guys would already be up here, so we brought in the police." Marluxia continued.

Xehanort scowled at the authorities surrounding him and he dropped the knife in defeat. Roxas looked down at the girl in front of him who had her attention on the police with a triumphant smile on her face. Her messy sea foam blue-green hair was now shorter, it's length didn't even reach her shoulders.

"I hope he gets behind bars for the rest of his life," Joy hopefully said, giving Roxas a warm smile. "Thanks again for coming to my rescue."

"I'm just glad I got here in time," Roxas replied, rubbing the back of his neck in modesty.

"Me too," Joy said, a bit distressed. She walked toward the other seniors, behind the police and with Roxas following.

Roxas' blue eyes looked at Joy's back. Trailing his eyes up, he noticed something. A thin line marred Joy's neck, a cut from the knife. "Joy, there's a cut on your neck!"

"What? Where?" Joy asked, putting a hand on her neck, running her fingers across the skin to find the cut.

* * *

**A week later; December 1st  
**

The police had found out that Xehanort was after the money from the school, but wanted to kill a student from there. He was accused before for molesting children, now he's put into jail for kidnapping and nearly murdering a child. How long would he be behind those bars? It's still undecided.

Joy's cut on the back of her neck wasn't serious, just a little cut from the knife. It wasn't deep nor was it big. It wasn't life threatening, but it would leave a scar. The scar seemed to engrave itself upon Joy's skin, to remind her of what happened that night. Joy's hair length now didn't even reach her shoulders. Her blue-green hair was short, but not too short for a girl; it gave her a young look.

Ricky has distanced himself away from Joy and the others for the past week. It seemed both Joy's and Roxas' speeches had smacked him right in the face. It really made him think, which is why he was distancing himself away in the first place.

So, when Joy woke up to a knock on her dorm door, she didn't expect to see a letter fly in from under the door. Tiptoeing to not further disturb Roxas' slumber, she picked up the envelope and saw that it was addressed to her. Hopping back on her bed, she ripped open the letter and took out the folded paper.

_**Dear Joy,**_

_I'm sorry for lying to you before._

_You were right, no matter how harsh._

_I don't really love you._

_I thought I did. But I guess I don't._

_I'm going back home today._

_Your friends are staying a month longer._

_The program was extended, but I'm not interested anymore._

_Do me a favor._

_Follow your heart._

_Forget about your promise and past,_

_and listen to your heart._

_The answer to your pleading_

_is right in front of you._

_**Sincerely,  
Ricky Tang**_

* * *

"I can't believe you guys are staying here a month longer!" Joy exclaimed, taking a seat at the cafeteria table for breakfast. 

"It wasn't that hard. Come on, it's Mr. Ansem," Kristina responded.

"Yeah, he was so nice." Fernando inputted.

"That's what I like about him," Stacie added, grinning.

"I wonder why they extended the foreign exchange program…" Amy wondered.

Joy laughed when she suddenly remembered something. "Whoops, I forgot something. I'll be right back."

* * *

Joy ran to her dorm, running up the stairs, dashing through halls. When she skidded around a corner, she ran to her dorm. But she was surprised when she already found someone in front of the door. Joy slowed down to a walk and approached the person who was about to knock on the door, "May I help you?" 

The person turned around, startled, and Joy found that it was a girl, probably about her age. The girl stared at the girl before asking, "Who are you?"

Joy didn't answer; she didn't say to others her name if she didn't know theirs first. "This is my dorm, do you know me?"

The girl looked from the door to Joy and back. "This… is _your_ dorm?" She gave Joy an expression of mild surprise and disappointment. "I'm sorry, I was just looking for my friend. It's okay though."

Joy tilted her head to the right, a bit confused, before saying, "Okie dokie then." Joy outstretched her arm, "My name's Joy."

The dark blue haired girl's black onyx eyes looked at the hand warily. Slowly, she took her hand and replied, "Jun."

* * *

**Chapter Twelve Preview:**

_I don't feel like I belong anymore. It's like everyone's replaced me because _she_ came along. Maybe I should just go. It would probably be better off like that. Everyone seems happier, no one would miss me too much. Amy's found a new best friend, Roxas is going to get his girlfriend back, the others like her better than me. They don't need me._

Pence lied to me; Jun's not weird at all, she's cool. Even I like her, and for some reason, I feel like it's better that she and Roxas get together.

_Mom probably misses me. _

_Whatever happens, I'm just glad I was able to meet all of them._

* * *

Hope you liked it! Sorry it took awhile. A kidnapping scene is not the best thing to write in my opinion, unless you've really been in that kind of situation. You don't know how many times I had to keep rewriting this chapter until it met my satisfaction. Sorry if it's kind of rushed near the end. It's late and I'm really sleepy. School's starting soon for me as well. So, hopefully I'll get chapters out as routinely as possible:) 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I need **critism**! To be a _better_ writer!

Although, compliments are wanted as well ;) Pretty please?

Still thinking of making a RoxasxOC oneshot, of course not related to this story. I'm not sure if anyone will read it, so if you want me to make it, review and tell me. Support me by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want more reviews PLEASE ! xD


	13. She's Here?

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP May be a bit useless to read...

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Stacie, Fernando, Kristina, Cookie, Jun, and Ms. Nahine

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, an anonymous person, Evil-Sama, Minakui, chainxofxmemories, and japaneserocker.

_ Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._

* * *

_**Chapter Twelve**_  
**She's Here?**

"Nice to meet you, Jun." Joy welcomed, letting go of the handshake.

"Likewise."

"So, Jun, who were you looking for?" Joy asked the girl after introductions.

"My friend, but its fine, I'll just be going now." And with that, the mysterious girl known as Jun hurried off before Joy could say anything else.

With a confused expression, Joy mumbled to herself, "Weird."

* * *

"Hey Pence!" The black spiky haired camera man turned around to find Joy running towards him. After looking around the empty cafeteria, Joy asked, "Where is everyone?"

"You didn't hear the bell?"

Silence.

"THE BELL RUNG?!"

Pence quickly covered his ears to protect himself from going deaf from Joy's outburst. "Yes… the bell rung."

"You've got be kidding me!" About to run off toward the class, Joy stops herself and questions the calm boy, "Why aren't you in class yet?"

Pence started reaching in his pocket and took a little card, "Photographer of the Yearbook Club, special pass to be in and out of class, including being excused from absences and tardiness."

"So, does that mean that I'm off the hook too?" Joy asked, grinning in victory.

"Yup."

"YAY!" Joy exclaimed and pointed in the direction of the school building, "Off to class!"

As the two walked toward the school building, Pence asked, "What took you so long to come back from the dorms? What did you need to get anyway?"

"Oh! My trigonometry book!" Joy answered, showing him the textbook.

"You took more than five minutes just to get your math book?" Pence inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault. Cookie kept bothering me." Tucking her book away, Joy continued, "Besides, there was this girl in front of my door."

"What girl?"

"I don't know. Some girl; she was looking for someone," Joy replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Did you get her name?"

"Yeah. I think it was… Jun?"

"JUN?!" Pence stopped dead in his tracks. Joy looked back at him in questioning. "Jun?! A girl? About your height? White _long_ hair? Black eyes? **Heavy** makeup?!"

"Well, she was my height. She did have white hair except black highlights, black eyes too. No, she didn't look as if she was wearing any makeup… I think…" Joy moved her eyes to the side in thought. That's when she noticed the surprised expression on Pence's face. "Why? Do you know her?"

With an uneasy frown, Pence said, "I'll tell you later. Let's just go to class." Then, he rushed inside the building, leaving a very confused girl outside the doors.

"Huh?" Joy scratched her head, confused before running inside to chase after the boy, "Wait up!"

* * *

"I hope you're all done with your warm-ups. It's time for the bonus question." Ms. Nahine started, pushing up her big round spectacles.

Roxas glanced to the empty desk in front of him and turned to Hayner. "Where is Joy and Pence? They've been gone awhile," Roxas asked.

"Joy's probably just taking forever," Hayner replied nonchalantly.

"Or maybe she ran into an old friend," Riku suggested, turning around in his seat to face Roxas who was behind him, the empty desk the only thing between them.

"Don't even joke about that," Roxas merely said, going back to his warm-up.

Going to the chalkboard, the brown-hair-tied-up-in-a-bun woman drew a right-angled triangle, labeling the corners. "Now, remember we use a right angled triangle to consider the Trig. Ratio and we remember that the Ratio of Corresponding Sides in - "

At that moment, everyone in the room heard the doorknob turn and in came -

"Pence Dular and Joy Kane." Ms. Nahine turned to the two students, "You're both late. But I'm a bit surprised you're not with Roxas this time, Joy."

Recalling her other three days of being late to class with Roxas the week before, Joy flushed in mortification. Pence took out his pass again and showed his math teacher, "Ms. Nahine, Joy was with me doing yearbook business. Please excuse both of us."

Ms. Nahine stared at the pass before waving her hand at them, signifying for the two to go to their seats. The students watched as Joy took her seat in front of Roxas while Pence took his seat next to Hayner. Both of them quickly took out their notebooks and started on their work.

"As I was saying…" And with that, Ms. Nahine continued with the bonus question.

Keeping quiet, Roxas quickly threw a small folded piece of paper onto Joy's desk. Joy glanced at the note before looking behind her. Roxas was staring at his work, but taking a glance up at Joy, she knew she received the note from him. She unfolded the note and started reading, making sure the teacher wasn't watching.

_**What took you so long?**_

Taking her pencil, she wrote something down and threw it over her shoulder. The note landed on Roxas' desk. Taking it, he hastily opened it.

_It took me forever to find my math book! Blehh…  
Please put your clothes in the laundry shoot next time!  
Or at least on your own bed.._

Roxas stared at the note in misunderstanding before writing down a reply on throwing it back onto Joy's desk.

_**Why? What happened?**_

Joy felt heat rise to her cheeks a bit as she wrote down on the paper what happened when finding her math book.

_My book happened to be on the floor…  
Under your boxers._

Roxas read Joy's response before thinking, _'Well…that's embarrassing,'_ and getting up from his seat to throw away the note, making a mental note to be more tidy.

As Roxas walked away from his seat, Hayner mumbled to Pence, "Hey, Pence."

A hesitant reply slowly was heard, "What?"

"What took you guys?"

"Haruha! Dular!" Hayner and Pence flinched at the sound of their names and looked up at their math teacher. "You two should be aware that talking will not be tolerated in my classroom."

"Yes ma'am." They both replied. When the woman faced the board again, Pence quickly murmured to Hayner as Roxas claimed back his desk, "I'll tell you later."

* * *

"Hey, where's Joy and Roxas?" Selphie asked Amy as she, Riku, and Sora found seats in the lunch table.

"Joy got in trouble and is being held in 10 minutes after the lunch bell. Roxas said he was going to wait for her," Amy answered.

"Oh." She said nonchalantly. It was like Roxas waiting for Joy was a normal routine, which it was.

"Hey Pence," Fernando started, looking toward Pence from his lunch, "what took Joy so long this morning?"

"Math book, she couldn't find it. Which reminds me," Pence starts but is interrupted.

"What's up?" Axel greeted, taking a seat at the table. Larxene stood behind him.

Larxene scanned the lunch table and asked, "Where's shrimp?" Using her nickname for Joy.

"History class." Namine informed the seniors.

"What? She get in trouble again?" Axel asked, quirking up his eyebrow.

"She tried to throw a paper ball at me and she missed; hit the teacher instead," Kristina told the pyro known as Axel.

Larxene shook her head in shame like an older sister would do to their younger sibling, "It seems Joy still has much to learn from me."

"Roxas waiting for her?" Questions, questions, questions. Axel was just full of them today.

"Yeah - " Selphie started but was interrupted by Pence.

"Guys! We're getting off track! Jun is back!"

_Cricket, cricket, cricket._

It took a few minutes before that piece of information struck their brains. "_**WHAT?!**_"

"What are you talking about, Pence?" Selphie objected, "Jun moved on the other side of the world!"

"Too bad it isn't on the other side of the universe," Axel muttered to himself.

"I'm serious!" Pence tried to convince them.

"You guys!" Kristina exclaimed, trying to get the table's attention.

"That's impossible, Jun said so herself that she would never come back." Larxene contradicted, ignoring Kristina's outburst.

"Guys!" Kristina roared, finally gaining the attention of the others. "Who's Jun?"

"Jun is Roxas' ex-girlfriend from last year. She was a smart, but _very_ strange girl," Kairi started.

"Even though she was _really_ strange, Roxas still asked her out… which I don't really get," Hayner added.

"Above all, Jun dumped Roxas in May and she moved a week later," Pence informed last.

"So wait, did she dump him because she was moving?" Fernando asked the group.

"She didn't tell Roxas, 'cause if she did, then Roxas didn't tell _us_," Sora answered the blonde boy.

"Are you sure she's back Pence?" Riku asks disbelievingly.

"Well, that's what Joy told me…" Pence replies, a bit of doubt wavering in his voice.

"Joy saw her?" Amy arches her eyebrow.

"…yeah…"

At that second, everyone at the table let out a sigh of relief. "Don't scare us like that, Pence!"

Being the only one that did not let out a breath, Pence looked around confused. "Huh?"

"Pence, this is Joy we're talking about. She imagines herself in the clouds. She might've just _thought_ that she saw Jun, but most likely, she didn't," Amy explains.

"You guys," Pence starts, "I don't think you understand the situation. Joy doesn't know anything about Jun!"

"But wait…" Sora scratches his head in thought, "I thought you guys talked to her about Jun…?" Everyone turns their attention to the girls at the table. "Kairi?"

Kairi's eyes moved to her top left as she pointed at Selphie, "I told Selphie to do it!"

"Selphie?" Everyone looked to the brunette.

She quickly put on a nervous expression and started wailing her arms in the air, "I thought Namine was doing it!"

The group turned to the aforementioned girl. The blonde artist quickly put her hands in front of her defensively, "I thought Olette already told her…"

"Me?" Olette asked in confusion, "I told Amy to do it."

"Did you tell her, Amy?" Stacie asked, turning to the raven-haired teenager.

Amy's eyes widened at the mention of her name, "Since when was I suppose to tell Joy??"

"Wait a second," Larxene interrupted, stopping Amy from bursting out loud, "so you girls didn't talk to Joy about Jun… at all?" She put her hand on her hips and arched her eyebrow.

"Well…" Namine started, "we were kind of talking about it…" Namine quickly looked over at Kairi for back-up, "Kairi?"

Her sister looked at her before quickly averting her eyes to Selphie, "Selphie - "

" - Olette - "

" - Kristina!"

"Me?" Kristina quickly responded loudly, "Stacie!"

Stacie looked over at Kristina with an exasperated look, "Why do you have to say my name?"

"Okay fine! Amy!"

Before Amy could respond, the group heard a familiar voice ring through their ears, "Joy!" The table turned their heads to find that Joy and Roxas were finally joining the table, lunch in their hands. "Why are you guys saying each others' name?"

"Uh…" Kristina started, looking at the others, "We're playing the random name game!"

"The 'random name game'?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow at the girl.

"…YESH!" Kristina cries, pumping her fist in the air with pride.

Everyone looks at the dark haired teen. "Yesh?" Kristina looks away when really, she's laughing hysterically - mentally, of course.

"Anyway," Olette said, attracting everyone's attention away from Kristina, "how about we go to the ice skating rink? It's just opened up last week."

* * *

Sorry it took me about a month to make this chapter, especially since this chapter isn't exactly exciting. I just recently started HIGH SCHOOL and it's already a bummer to me, because I had to do a summer project and I waited to the very last week just to do it. Yeah..I'm such a bad procastinator... T.T Anyway, I got the rest of the chapters already in mind, and I have no projects yet in any of my classes, so, if I finish my homework fast enough when I get home or when I don't have tennis games, I'll start working on the next chapter. So, just _sit back_, relax, be **patient**, and **_REVIEW_**!**  
**

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I'm not exactly happy about how many reviews I'm getting... Not to be pushy or anything, but reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _GRACIAS_! xD

**_STILL_** thinking of making a RoxasOC oneshot, of course not related to this story. I'm not sure if anyone will read it, so if you want me to make it, **review** and tell me. **_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want **more** reviews _PLEASE_ ! xD


	14. Out of the Blue

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC?(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Stacie, Fernando, Kristina, Jun, and Ms. Nahine

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, an anonymous person, Evil-Sama, Minakui, chainxofxmemories, AmyRoseAi, and japaneserocker. 

_ Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._

* * *

_**Chapter Thirteen**_  
**Out of the blue**

**4:16PM, Monday**

_**Dear journal,**_

_**I can't believe how many things have been going on since the last time I wrote in here. Let's see, the last thing I wrote down was that I was having second thoughts on Ricky… Well that's over with! Forget about him (hate him), he's long gone now. Fernando, Stacie, and Kristina are still here, extended foreign exchange program. I wish they could just transfer here; it would be a whole lot better! Especially since Fernando and Kristina are getting a little romance, woot!**_

_**Anyway, earlier today, I went back to get my trigonometry book and right outside my dorm, is a girl. Her name was Jun. She looked nice, I guess. Although, she seemed…familiar to me for some reason. I don't remember meeting her before, but it seems like I've seen her before. I'm not sure, but she wasn't looking for me so that must mean she doesn't seem to know me either. She said she was looking for a friend... that makes me wonder. Because once she heard that this was my room, she was surprised. Was she looking for Roxas? It could be.**_

_**Speaking of Roxas, guess where I found my trigonometry book? Under Roxas' shorts. And not just any shorts; his BOXERS! I've known Roxas for awhile now, and I was NOT expecting him to just leave his underwear lying around! Sheesh, he should show some decency to a lady. Psh… but the boxers, when I saw them… I could not help but blush… YOU CAN'T BLAME ME! Mental images just rushed through my head as I stared with reddened cheeks at the article of clothing. I mean come on!**_

Joy stared at her little journal, smiling at her embarrassment, the hint of a laughter lingering behind her smile of what had happened earlier that day. She raised her unused hand to the locket hanging from her neck and wrapped her small fingers around it. Leaning her head against the wall she laid her back upon, she reminisced on how she had gotten the necklace.

"_Detention with Ms. Nahine is the worst," my roommate groaned as he shut the door close and dropped his bag to the floor with a **thud**. Noticing a certain someone on his bed, Roxas asked, "What are you doing on my bed?"_

_I looked up from staring at the television screen and my violet eyes met with blue. "I'm playing a video game," I answered him._

"_And you have to be on my bed because…?" He asked, expecting for me to finish._

"_Hello??" I gestured to the television which had a paused menu displaying at the moment. "Television! Video game!" Roxas didn't say anything as he kneeled down next to his backpack and started rummaging through the bag. I waited for awhile before realizing that he still did not understand what I had meant. "Your bed is right in front of the T.V.! Meaning I'll have a better view of my game and my gaming will be enhanced," I said it in a way that should've been obvious to him._

"_Uh-huh…" He responded, continuing to look through his backpack._

"_Yup!" I exclaimed to him, even though I knew he was half-paying attention to me. I quickly resumed to playing my game, as the sounds of rummaging was heard._

_After a minute or so, the only noise that was audible was the music and sound effects coming from my source of entertainment. I was thinking Roxas probably went to the bathroom - but then, even if I'm looking at the screen, I would've seen him sneak in there out of the corner of my eye. He's not sitting at the desk otherwise I would've spotted him right away since his hair would stick out right in front of face. I didn't want to tear my gaze away from the T.V. because I was on the last level and did not want to waste all that time just to lose at the final part._

_Roxas left my head for the moment as I stayed focused on my game, concentrating on what I was doing at that second. I was so determined to win that I didn't notice the bed sink under me. I was so focused on what I was doing that I didn't see a chain fall right in front of my eyes and then disappear out of view. I was so into the game that I didn't feel something being hooked around my neck until I felt something hit against my chest._

_That's the moment I chose to tear my gaze away from the screen and look down. Gold sparkled in the sunlight as I stared at the object hanging from my neck. Grasping and holding the item in my hand, the chain still wrapped around my neck, I stared at the small golden heart in my palm._

_It was a locket. A golden heart-shaped locket._

_I caressed the locket with my thumb - **real** gold. And the letter 'J' was engraved on the front._

_Turning around in my seated position on the bed, I found Roxas leaning against the wall behind me, staring at me with anticipation as I left the accessory to dangle from my neck. I stared at him. "Is this for me?" He nodded shyly and the butterflies filled my stomach. "Why are you giving this to me?"_

"_Today makes two months since you first came here. And since then, we've been friends. This locket," he points at the object, "represents our golden friendship."_

Joy smiled to herself as she opened the locket revealing the pictures within. On the left was Joy pouting a bit, and Roxas next to her, his hand on her black beret; it was the first day that Joy was there when they all came back from the mall and Roxas and Joy had fallen.

_I stared at the picture. When was this taken? "When I was putting your beret back on, Pence took a picture without warning."_

Pence always took a shot when no one was even paying attention. He was a professional photographer like that; he can always get the moment just right.

The second picture on the right was the most memorable one. It was the picture of the night of Joy's kidnapping. Joy and Roxas were side by side with Joy's uneven shorter hair and both with distressed smiles. Yet, they both looked relieved in the photo with Roxas' arm securely around Joy's shoulders and her head lying on his shoulder.

Abruptly, a _SLAM!_ and a _BANG!_ was heard from the door. Amy's voice reached through the doors and to Joy's alarmed ears, "JOY! It's time to go ice skating!"

* * *

"AHHH! I CAN'T DO THIS!" A voice cried. 

They were all at the ice skating rink. It wasn't very busy today for a few skaters circled the ice. Joy and Amy being one of those few people as Joy struggled to keep Amy on her feet. This was Amy's first time to be _on_ ice, with blades on the bottom of her shoes to be used for balance. Joy was no professional, but she had enough time on the ice to be balanced in her skates.

"Come on, Amy! Just keep moving your feet," Joy instructed her best friend.

The raven haired teen did as she was told but slightly lost balance and stumbled a bit. "Ahhh! Joy!" Amy tightened her hold on Joy's arm as she tried to steady herself.

Joy continued to keep Amy standing on her feet whilst trying to stay on _her own_ feet. '_Help me!'_ Joy's plea was answered as Riku came up behind them.

"How's our beginner doing?" Riku was doing fine on his skating.

More declining in posture, "As you can see, not so well."

Riku took Amy's other-side and held the poor girl steady. Replacing Joy as Amy's teacher, the couple skated off as the ex-teacher skated to the wall to catch her breath. Fortunately for her, Roxas was already leaning against the wall, but on the shoe side, off the ice. "Amy improving?"

Joy exhaled, "Not exactly." Roxas laughed at her, "What are you laughing at, mister?"

He ceased his laughing, but a smile was left behind. "Nothing, nothing."

"Hey, how come you aren't skating?" Joy asked, noticing the blonde was walking in his socks, his shoes in his hands.

"I had my rounds already. I'm tired. The rest of us are just waiting for you and Amy, that's why Riku went after you guys." At that moment, Amy and Riku skated by, Amy still latched upon Riku's arm.

"Already?? What??" Joy couldn't believe it. She had wasted all that time trying to teach Amy how to skate and the others were already done. The others were already exchanging the skates they were using for their own shoes.

"Yup. Time can go by fast when you're having fun," Roxas said to her, almost mockingly.

"Shut up," Joy whined as she trudged onto Roxas' side, sliding her feet toward an empty bench and proceeded to taking off her ice-skates. Leaning over to untie her skates, she found that she was having a little trouble untying them. The knot that was holding them together was tied _too_ tight, making it useless for Joy to keep trying. Being the stubborn person she was, she continuously tugged at the strings even though she had very little strength. "Urgh…!"

Joy heard a chuckle in front of her. She lifted her head became face to face with that of Roxas Hikari. "Need some help?"

"No!" Joy lied. Roxas gave her a doubtful look. "I mean… yes, please?" Giving him a big grin, she sat upright and watched as he kneeled down in front of her and helped her with her skates.

"I see you're an amateur on ice," Roxas teased, starting up a conversation.

Joy recalled how she nearly slammed into a little girl when she first circled around the ice and she didn't know how to stop herself. She swerved around the child, losing her balance in the process, and skated right into Roxas. Heat rising to her cheeks from the memory, Joy crossed her arms, "Be quiet. It's not like you're any better."

"Actually, I am. At least I can stay balanced consistently," Roxas countered with a smirk. Joy glared at him and stuck out her tongue at him. "I could teach you how to stop."

Sucking in her tongue, she looked to him, "Really??"

"Of course. Don't want any accidents happening, now do we?"

Ignoring that last remark, she stared at him with a sheepish smile, "Promise?"

Roxas smiled at her childishness. "Promise."

Joy beamed at his response as he returned to untying the knots of her skates. After a few moments, she asked, "You having fun down there?"

"Having more fun than you by untying these knots better than you," Roxas replied, looking up to smirk at the insulted girl.

Joy gasped at him, exaggerating the gasp a bit to make it seem like she was really offended. Unfortunately, someone behind them misunderstood the situation. "Oh my gosh! Roxas is proposing to Joy!"

"What!?" Suddenly, surrounding the couple was the gang. The pair looked around at their surroundings with wide and confused eyes. A flash blinded their eye-sight for a second and they knew Pence had taken another picture of them. All around them, they heard different people talking at once.

"You guys are still too young!" Kristina.

"When did you guys get together??" Fernando.

"When did you decide to do this, Roxas?!" Hayner.

"I never expected this to happen so soon." Pence.

"Why didn't you guys tell us about this??" Olette.

"I knew you guys would get together someday." Namine.

"Where'd you get the munny?" Sora.

"How long have you been waiting to do this, Roxas?" Kairi.

"Can I be one of the bridesmaid?!" Selphie.

Their senior friends - Larxene, Axel, Demyx, Zexion, and Marluxia - that had come along with them had stayed silent but displayed an equal amount of shock as the rest. Well, one of them had something to say.

"Chicken!" They stared at the blonde sitar-player with annoyed expressions.

Joy and Roxas stared at their friends;. then, to each other; their eyebrows arched up and they turned back to their accusing friends.

"Where's the ring?" Stacie finishes it all.

Everyone looked down between Roxas and Joy. The only thing they saw was that Roxas was occupying himself with untying Joy's skates. The teenagers slowly turned their heads to Amy, their eyes narrowed into a glare. Feeling their gazes on her, she slowly looked up to them and displayed an innocent smile. "Oops…"

Saving Amy from _more_ embarrassment, Riku announced to go eat at the restaurant connected to the ice-skating rink. "Good idea!" Amy agreed, running off to the exchanging counter before anyone could rampage on her.

* * *

"What are you guys getting?" 

Joy bounced in her seat next to Amy. The gang had to split up into three groups due to the restaurant's booths and tables only held the maximum of seven people per table/booth. It was resolved when the group got three booths next to each other so they could still speak to one another.

Joy's table consisted of herself, Amy, Stacie, Namine, Kristina, Olette, and Kairi. They were the center table while Roxas' and Axel's tables were on either side of them. Roxas' group had Hayner, Pence, Sora, and Riku - they were the smallest group out of the three. Axel had Larxene, Fernando, Demyx, Zexion, Larxene, and Marluxia.

As the groups were taken to their booths, Larxene noticed someone entering the kitchen. Taking their seats at their respected tables, Larxene passed by Amy and whispered in her ear, "Look around, you'll find someone unexpected. Now is a perfect time to tell Joy." Amy looked at the blonde senior with confusion as the two took their seats at their respected tables.

Before Amy can fully scan the restaurant, Joy shoved a menu in front of Amy's view, "Come on Amy, I'm hungry!"

"I feel like steak today," Selphie murmured to herself.

"Hey, look! They have spaghetti," Namine exclaimed, staring at her opened menu.

"Really? Where?!" Joy searched through the menu, flipping through the pages, trying to find exactly where the spaghetti was located.

"Page three Joy, under the pasta section," Roxas informed from behind Joy. Joy and Roxas were sitting in separate booths, but back-to-back, the back of their cushioned seats the only thing between them.

Turning to the said page, Joy grinned when she spotted what she was looking for, "Found it!"

As Joy went off to her own little food world, Amy continued her scanning of the restaurant. She didn't find anything out of the ordinary and turned to Larxene at the next booth. The blonde was looking back at her and gave her a paranoid expression. She stood on her seat and leaned over the backboard, whispering something in Olette's ear despite the brunette's surprised reaction. Olette raised her eyebrow at the senior and looked around the restaurant. Amy watched in confusion as Olette's eyes suddenly widened and she turned to Kairi next to her and started whispering in _her_ ear. Kairi did the same thing as Olette; confused, searched, shocked, told the next person. Whatever was happening, it was spreading around the table until it reached Selphie who in turn clamped her hands over her mouth.

Amy saw the panic reaching Selphie's eyes as she started groaning, "What is _she_ doing here?"

"Who?" Amy asked. The girl next to her(Joy) had taken a seat next to Roxas to discuss with the guys on what they were going to order.

"You guys aren't going to believe this, but Jun is here!" Olette informed the girl.

"Seriously?" Stacie asked, setting down her menu.

"Yeah! I just saw her walk into the kitchen."

"Okay, now would be the perfect time to tell Joy," Amy told the others at their table.

"Tell me what?" Appearing back in the seat next to Amy, Joy placed her menu at the table and waited for someone to answer her question.

* * *

"Okay, before we order anything, let's be honest," Hayner began, putting down his menu, "Who doesn't have enough munny?" 

The other guys at the table stared at Hayner. "You didn't bring enough munny, did you, Hayner?" Pence asked.

"I did!…not…" Hayner hung his head in humiliation.

Roxas sighed, "I'll pay for you this time Hayner, but the munny you owe me is getting higher."

"Thanks man, that's why you're my buddy," Hayner announced, punching his best friend's arm lightly.

"You're going to have to pay for me too, Roxas," the blonde looked up from his menu at his cousin to find him smiling guiltily. "I only have enough munny for a drink…"

Roxas heaved a heavier sigh. "You two owe me big time when we go on our annual snow trip."

"Thanks cuz!" Sora grinned at his cousin.

At that moment, Pence saw someone out of the corner of his eye and turned his head. "Hey guys, doesn't that girl look kind of like…"

The guys looked to where Pence was looking and their own eyes widened at the sight. Roxas' unspoken words died in his mouth when his shocked-filled eyes laid on a certain someone walking toward their table. The girl was -

* * *

"Jun Tsu. That's her name." 

"Wow…I never knew Roxas had an ex-girlfriend. And I can't believe I just met her today, she must've been looking for Roxas earlier. Why did she dump him _and_ leave him?"

"We don't know." Namine looked down in both confusion and despair.

"Wait, you actually _did_ see her today??" Stacie interjected.

"Yeah… that's why it took me awhile this morning to get my trigonometry book."

"So, Pence _was_ telling the truth…"

That's when they heard a voice serving at Roxas' table. "Hi, I'm going to skip saying my name because I know you guys know it and get straight to my work. What can I get you boys? The usual, like last year?"

Joy tuned in her seat. Black hair, white highlights, light makeup…it was the same girl from this morning. With a closer look, she really was pretty. Compared to Joy, she was gorgeous. Pain struck Joy's insides as she saw the expression on Roxas' face. Surprised expression, mouth agape, eyes filled with that of longing…Joy quickly turned in her seat and stared down at the table.

"J-Jun?" Joy heard Roxas stutter her name.

Cold chills ran through Joy's body, up and down. "Of course it's me, silly. I knew you wouldn't forget _me_." Joy started feeling invaded.

Kristina saw Joy and nudged Stacie who in turn looked at Joy. The saddened girl was already assuming what was going to happen next. "Joy?" They called out to her.

Hearing Joy's name, Jun turned her gaze toward the table next to her and spotted the same sea-foam blue hair as this morning, "Hey! You're that girl from this morning. Joy, was it?"

The violet-eyed teenager slowly looked up and for a split second, there was a touch of hurt in her eyes before they resumed their usual joyfulness and a smile was plastered on her face. "Yeah, I remember you, too! Jun, right?"

Larxene turned her gaze to Axel who was looking at her as well, mentally sending each other messages of the situation at hand. Jun moved her long bangs behind her ear before saying, "Sorry I ran off on you. I was late for work - which is here!"

Joy giggled at Jun's enthusiasm, "It's alright. By the way, were you looking for Roxas this morning?" Roxas perked up at the mention of his name.

"Yeah, actually I was." Joy saw Jun glance toward Roxas and felt the pang in her chest, "I could've sworn that was his dorm, but I guess I was wrong."

"No, that's his dorm. We share a dorm," Joy informed the girl, sticking out her tongue in slight embarrassment.

Jun widened her eyes in surprise. "Seriously?" Joy nodded and Jun turned toward Roxas, "You're sharing a dorm with a _girl_?" Turning her gaze back to Joy, "And you're sharing a dorm with a _boy_? Is that even allowed?" She asked, looking back from Roxas to Joy.

"Well… Mr. Ansem trusted me to her…" Axel moved his eyes toward Joy and saw her violet colored eyes flicker from joyful to gloomy, but she still had that 'smile' on her face.

_**Her laugh started to fade, but she still had a smile plastered on her face.  
I've noticed that she always smiles, like she never wants to see the negative side of things. Smiling 24/7. **_

"Well, that's lucky," she finally said. Jun suddenly looked down on Joy before flickering her gaze back to Roxas' table. Repositioning her notebook, she readied her pen, and asked, "So, the usual?"

The seniors at their table, and Fernando, sat back down in their seats, discussing amongst themselves. Joy gazed back at the menu in front of her, except she didn't feel hungry anymore. Her hunger disappeared as she stared at the different food selections written out in front of her. She stared down and touched her locket.

"_Today makes two months since you first came here. And since then, we've been friends. This locket," he points at the object, "represents our golden friendship."_

"_I think its better we stay friends." _

'_It's going to happen again to me, isn't it?'_ Joy thought to herself.

"Hey Joy," the girl that had been called on looked up and turned to the voice that had interrupted her thoughts - Namine, "You want to go back to the skating rink? I'm not hungry anymore." Joy felt her throat dry out, so instead, she merely nodded at the blonde artist and got up from her seat. Olette got out of her seat in order for Namine to come out and they both got ready to leave. "Would anyone like to join us?"

"Where are you guys going?" Fernando asked his blonde girlfriend.

Namine pointed behind her to the skating rink, "We're going skating again."

"You guys aren't going to eat?" The two turned around to face Jun with her notebook and pen still out.

Namine answered while Joy just shook her head, "No, we're not hungry." Fernando walked up behind Namine, ready to go with the two girls.

"You sure? 'Cause I could just get whatever you want; I'm _that_ quick," Jun tried to persuade them.

"We're fine, thanks," Namine ended with a smile and the trio walked off.

"Okay well, Roxas, what would you like?" Joy glanced behind her to Roxas and found him _not_ staring at his menu, but at Jun. "Roxas?" Roxas snapped back up and his cheeks reddened as he went back to looking at his menu. Jun laughed at him. Chills, frosty chills, went through Joy's body as she faced forward again, feeling water trickle to her eyes as she tried to erase what she saw. Goosebumps prickled up as she walked.

Hayner saw the event and looked at Joy, then to Roxas. He slapped his forehead, _'Roxas seriously __**is**__ a bonehead.'_

* * *

"_You okay Joy?" Namine took a seat next to me on the bench, putting on her own rented skates._

_No, I am not okay. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just need a little skating."_

"_Joy, just because Jun is here doesn't ruin any chances between you and Roxas." I knew she was trying to reassure me, but I can't believe that._

_I stayed silent for a moment, tying my skate-laces. I'm still going to play dumb, this lie is soon going to be the truth. Seriously… what chance do I really have with Roxas compared to Jun? "What chances, Namine? Are you sure you're not hungry because I think that hunger is getting to your head," I poked her forehead while grinning, "All I need right now is some ice-skating and a dose of falling!" I pumped my fist in the air for emphasis. She stared at me for a second before giving me a half-smile. We shared a tiny laugh at my silliness and I slid toward the ice._

_How can I not think that Jun and Roxas are going to get back together? They had a history together and that little moment was proof that there's still something between them._

**Joy had promised to not fall for any guy that she sees no matter what, she was not going to love another again. **

_At least I know now that I'm not going to break my promise._

_I knew he only saw me as a friend, but there was always something that kept holding me back, giving the false hope that Roxas had the same feelings for me as I did for him.  
_

_I'm only going to admit this to myself: I really do like Roxas, despite what I say aloud._

_Must have been obvious, huh? I knew I was being a little _too _forward… _

_You know what? None of that matters now; because Jun is here._

_Jun is here, and you know what. Roxas is going to end up liking her again. And they're going to like each other, confess, stay sweethearts, going around like a couple, get married, all that goodie stuff, and I'm going to stand there, supporting them, because that's all I can do._

_There's no one out there for me…_

_Heh… now that I think about it, I can imagine Jun and Roxas getting married… but I can't imagine myself with -_

"Joy!"

Joy nearly lost balance if it wasn't for that hand that suddenly grabbed her arm and steadied her. The girl looked to her left and saw Roxas. "Oh, hey Roxas."

"That's all you can say after I saved you from breaking your head on this ice?" He smiled lightheartedly at Joy.

Joy grinned in a teasing way, "I guess so."

Roxas pouted and Joy laughed at him. After a few seconds, Roxas joined in on the laughter as the two circled the ice together. "Hey Joy?" Roxas called out to the girl as he skidded to a stop.

"Huh?" Joy didn't stop. She didn't know _how _to stop, so all she could is try to slow down and wait to stop, which is what she did.

Roxas chuckled after her and skated after her, grabbing her shoulders from behind to stop her. "You still need to learn how to stop."

Roxas half-expected Joy to turn around while sticking her tongue out, but she just turned her head and asked, "You sure?"

Roxas looked at her confused and gave her a reassuring smile, "Of course I'm sure, I promised, remember? Why would you ask that?"

"Don't you want to catch up with Jun? I'm sure she would like that," Joy said, scanning the ice. "Speaking of Jun, where is she?"

"She's working at the restaurant, remember?"

"Then, why are you out here?"

"Hello?" Roxas lightly knocked against Joy's forehead, "I'm here to teach you how to stop. You know, I think not eating messed up your thinking."

"Hey!" Joy skated after Roxas until she ended up slamming into him.

* * *

_It's the second week of December._

_We're finally on our winter break, and it doesn't end until a week after New Year's! That's like… one, two… THREE WEEKS! Three weeks of winter break! Can't wait…_

_This past week… yes, another week has gone by, Jun comes to visit us now. She's really cool. She is sooo not like the way Pence told me about her._

"**She's a weird little girl. She was the geek in class. Big round glasses too, like Ms. Nahine's. I remember seeing her before stick a straw in an apple and suck through it. She said it was 'good'… watching her do that was sickening enough." Pence pretended to gag, "She even walked funny. Her voice was all squeaky like, which would explain why she didn't talk a lot."**

**Pence stayed silent for a few moments, thinking.**

"**She was just plain weird, okay?"**

_Keyword: W-A-S. _

_She's way cooler than that now. If she was like that before, she ain't like that now. She has cool hair, has great style, a cool personality, and she's really fun to hang out with. Even I like her, we hang out quite a bit._

_Amy and her are hitting it off pretty well, too. They have a lot of fun talking about yaoi, which I always avoid when I'm with either of them._

_Roxas and Jun spend a lot of time together. When I come into the dorm, most of the time, they're both in there talking, or playing video games together. And when he's with me, Jun suddenly appears out of nowhere, and I end up feeling like a third wheel because I can't exactly find a way to intercept on what their conversing about._

_Also, when I try to find someone to hang out with, they're already hanging out with Jun. It's hard on me, because I feel like I have no use of being there. What's a girl to do?_

"MEETING!" Joy jolted from her bed as the door was burst open and in came the whole gang, including Jun.

"What meeting?" Joy watched as everyone took random seats around the dorm.

"The meeting on our annual winter trip! It's in two days!" Selphie exclaimed.

"Winter trip?"

"Yup!" Kairi began, "Every winter break we've had together, we go to the mountains and live up in my deluxe cabin."

"Really??"

"Yeah! It's so awesome! We celebrate Christmas and New Year's there!" Namine clapped her hands together in excitement, "And of course, you guys are also coming!" She gestured to Joy, Amy, Stacie, Kristina, Fernando, and Jun.

"You guys _are_ going to come, right?" Roxas questioned, making sure of us.

It was silent… until…

"Of course we are!" Joy and Amy shouted at the same time.

"Count me in!" Jun shouted along with them and high-fived Joy.

"Yay!" Olette shouted in glee. "Okay, now we need to discuss how we're going to get there."

"Are we going to ski?" Stacie suddenly asked.

And they spent the rest of that day planning their winter break.

* * *

Sorry my last chapter wasn't as long as my other chapters. I calculated wrong when I was looking at the pages numbers. It said 114 out of 120 and I was thinking 17 instead of 7, so that was my bad. I was_ really _off that day xP So sorry about that. Hopefully you liked this chapter though, and I hope you felt the chills as well when I was describing how Joy was feeling :D If you did, I will be happy! 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I'm _still_ **not** happy about the amount of reviews I'm getting... I know I'm pushing it this time, but reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _GRACIAS_! xD

**_STILL_** thinking of making a RoxasOC oneshot, of course not related to this story. I'm not sure if anyone will read it, so if you want me to make it, **review** and tell me. **_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want **more** reviews _PLEASE_ ! xD ... _**NOOOWWWWW!!!!!!!!**_


	15. Bonehead

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC?(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, and Ms. Nahine

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, an anonymous person, Evil-Sama, Minakui, chainxofxmemories, AmyRoseAi, japaneserocker, my friend Marissa, and Chained Memories.

_ Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes._

* * *

_**Chapter Fourteen**_  
**Bonehead**

"Well, I think that's everything I need, right, Cookie?" Joy clicked the locks to her suitcase closed and put her purple backpack next to it on the bed. Her kitten, Cookie, jumped upon the travel case and 'meowed' in agreement as her long white tail wagged happily behind her. "Did you finish packing your things Cookie?" Upon the feline's confused reaction, Joy giggled, "Of course _you_ haven't packed anything because I did it for you." Cookie just sat there with her little kitten face before licking her fur. Joy shook her head at her pet and took a seat on her bed.

Tomorrow, the gang would be going to the mountains to live in Kairi's deluxe cabin (which looked like a really big house) for their annual (or in Joy's and her friends' case, first) snow trip. They were going to ski, snowboard, and spend their holidays up in the snowy mountains in the chilly weather.

_I took a seat on my bed and leaned against the wall as Cookie took a seat on my lap, staring up at me with those big blue eyes of hers._

"_Cookie, do you think Roxas likes me?" The orange spotted kitten stared at her master before mewing at her in response and scratching her ear. I faintly laughed at my pet, "I'm guessing that's a 'no' right?" I leaned my head against the wall, overlooking the fact that it was uncomfortable, and let my mind wander. "His mind seems set up on Jun and I guess he always has been."_

_I'm not crying, but I feel like crying. Whenever I think of Roxas and Jun, cold shivers run along my body, giving my arms the feeling of goosebumps even if I'm under sun. Whenever I get my hopes up about something like this, it all ends up being the opposite and I'm the one that receives most of the hurt and I still pity myself. I never understood my feelings but I know I've been hurt many times over the average limit. What makes this time any different? This is just like what happened with Ricky; he didn't love me like I thought he did, he loved another girl._

"_Hey Cookie, did I tell you that Axel broke Roxas' skateboard?" I tried to laugh at Axel's predicament, but only a small smile formed on my face before falling back into a frown. The thought of Roxas' skateboard just brought me back to thinking of Roxas and Jun._

_Roxas and Jun are hitting it off quite well despite what happened to them in the past. Just staring at them together or even catching them glance at each other makes my heart ache… it hurts because you really think that a person feels the same way as you do to them, based on their behaviors and actions toward you, and when you start to get the confidence to do something about it, something happens that just ruins everything and breaks your heart._

_I'll admit it: I was planning to tell Roxas how I feel and I kept predicting the out comings of what would happen and most of them were happy ones. But now, every time I even think about the possibilities, it comes out as a painful thought with Jun in it. And I can't shake the feeling that Jun seems familiar to me, when I'm sure we haven't met._

_You know what? It doesn't even matter anymore. I'm pretty sure Jun is after Roxas considering she's flirting with him every single second of the day. And Roxas… I guess he likes it and wants it to happen. I can imagine them being together (again). Were all my efforts of being with him for nothing? I guess not. All those times we've been together, smiling, laughing, and the occasional sad moments meant more to me than I ever thought it could. Isn't that what matters most, how I feel? Because it doesn't seem like that. I feel like going - _

Joy heard the door unlock and she turned her attention toward it, expecting Roxas to enter. Watching the door open, her expectations were met but she was surprised to see Jun coming in through the door as well. They were both laughing their heads off. Joy stared at the_couple_ and felt the dull ache in her heart once again, remembering how she was like that with Roxas (emphasis on the _was_)

Once their laughter had soon enough died out, the two took notice of the other person in the room. "Hey Joy," they both greeted.

"I don't think I want to know what you guys were laughing at," Joy said to them, grinning at them in a teasing manner.

"It was nothing," Jun replied to her, chuckling a bit from earlier, "we're just reminiscing on the memories from last year."

"Ah, walking down memory lane," Joy teases a bit.

"Yeah…"

…Awkward silence…

"Anyway," Roxas announces, "we're going to get my stuff packed up for the trip, want to help out?"

"What Roxas? You think I'm not strong enough?" Jun joshes with Roxas, pushing him playfully.

"Since when did I say that?" Roxas asked, looking at the girl with a challenging smirk.

"It was _implied_," Jun countered with a smirk of her own. They have a stare-down for a minute before they're off laughing again. Once again waiting for their laughter to die down, Joy stares from Roxas to Jun. That was what Joy would always do with Roxas. She would always stand up to him even though he was pretty much taller than herself and they would always play around like that, just like the way Jun just did.

After another moment, Roxas turned back to Joy who gave him the faintest of smiles, hurt flickering in her violet eyes, "I'm pretty sure that Jun is all the help you'll need Roxas, she's strong and smart." Taking Cookie in her arms, she got up off her bed and started heading for the door that Roxas left open. "I'm going to Amy's; she wanted to see Cookie but stay in her dorm. That lazy girl," Joy comments, shaking her head at the thought of her best friend. "I'll see you guys later."

"Okay, bye Joy," they both say and they see Joy leave, closing the door behind her.

* * *

"Hey Amy," the door opened, and Amy let in her best friend as the feline that in her arms jumped out of the hold and ran toward Amy's bed. 

"Hey, what's up?" Amy greeted her, closing the door and returning to the computer.

Joy noticed Olette wasn't present before replying, "Nothing. Roxas and Jun is in the dorm, so I thought I would come in here," Joy answered her, taking a seat in Amy's bed.

"She's in there again?!" Amy exclaimed, spinning around in her seat with an angry expression.

"Yeah, she's in there," Joy answered.

Surprisingly, Amy said, "but she's suppose to be in here!"

Joy looked at her best friend in confusion, "Why is she suppose to be in here?"

"We were going to watch yaoi-ey," Amy exclaimed once for the day before continuing, "she knows this one website with a lot of yaoi in it!"

Joy's face saddened a bit, "Ah, I see. Well, I guess she just wanted to help Roxas with packing before coming here." She didn't know why, but Joy felt she should defend Jun's position before Amy decided to explode on her when Jun _did_ come here. "I'll go and remind her," she finally said, getting up from the bed and heading toward the door.

"Wait, where you going?" Amy asked confused.

"I'm going back to my dorm and then going to the library." Joy looked back at Amy who still looked confused, "I'm going to start doing Ms. Nahine's math packet."

"But we have _**days**_before school even starts!"

"Better start now then procrastinate," Joy taunts Amy before laughing and leaving the dorm.

Amy stared at the door. "She left without Cookie…"

"Meow?"

* * *

In dorm #317, Roxas and Jun rummaged through Roxas' dresser and closet, throwing what he would need for the trip on his bed. Searching in his closet was Jun, throwing on the bed random clothes. "Why are most of your clothes the same?" Taking out another white shirt-jacket from the closet, she held it against her body and faced Roxas. 

Roxas looked at her and stared at the jacket before looking down at his own. Shrugging, he answered, "Maybe because I like it and most of the time, too lazy to put my jacket in the laundry shoot every single day."

Jun gave the boy a weird expression before turning her gaze back to the shirt-jacket. Roxas stared at Jun with a reproachful look when her lips curved up into a chesire-like grin and she started putting on the clothing. "What are you doing, Jun?" After a few more moments, Jun had successfully put on the shirt-jacket and continued to grin at him.

Roxas stared at the girl wearing the jacket, recalling the first person to ever have done that.

"_**Hey Roxas, is this shirt-jacket really comfortable?"**_

_**I turned to my right from my seat at the desk and saw Joy with my favorite white shirt-jacket wrapped around her torso as if she were cold yet it was warm and sunny today. "I guess so, why?"**_

_**The unique-colored haired female stared at herself in the mirror with the jacket still on. I liked the way she was wearing my jacket, it gave her a nice look to herself. After looking at herself in the mirror, she walked in front of my closet which I just noticed now that it has been opened and saying, "Because you have like five pairs of the same shirt-jacket!"**_

"_**I like that jacket and style, it fits me, so why not buy more?" Hey, I'm a lazy guy, at least part of the time.**_

_**Joy looked into the closet before turning back to me, "Since you have so many shirt-jackets," she closed my closet door shut and gave me a toothy-grin, "I'm going to keep one!"**_

And since then, she's always had that shirt. If Roxas was to look into Joy's closet (which he wouldn't due to privacy issues), he would find _his_ shirt-jacket hanging up in her closet, slightly used from the times she's worn it.

"Check it out Roxas," snapping out of his thoughts, Roxas turned his attention back to the girl in front of him, "'I'm Roxas, I like wearing this jacket that I hate having to put in the laundry shoot to get washed because I like to be _dirty_,'" Jun imitated Roxas as she made body gestures to mock the boy.

"Okay, firstly, it's a _shirt-_jacket; second, I don't _hate_, I'm just too _lazy_; and third, I sooooo do not sound like that!" And with that, Roxas darted for Jun. Quick to react, she quickly saw and averted away, laughing. Running around the room and laughing moments later, Roxas finally caught Jun, wrapping his arms around her including her arms. "Gotcha!"

Joy chose that very moment to turn the doorknob and enter the dorm. Looking up, she caught sight of both Roxas and Jun laughing with Roxas wrapping himself around Jun. They didn't hear the door open as they continued to laugh. Joy stared at the two, feeling her eyes watering.

**Smirking, Roxas picked up his pace and jumped, "Gotcha!" And they both tumbled to the ground next to each other. Joy's beret had fallen off her head as she and Roxas laughed their heads off.**

**Selphie, seeing the two first, said to the group in a voice that they only could hear, "hey, check it out! Roxas and Joy **_fell_** in**love**!" The group laughed silently as they watched the pair.**

Holding back tears, Joy walked to her bed and grabbed her backpack which contained her schoolwork. "Joy!" It was amazing that once she had gotten her stuff ready, the pair finally notice her.

Roxas still had his arms around Jun, and Joy felt the tears in her eyes threatening to fall and show the oblivious boy exactly how she feels about him. How hurt she is just by him holding _her_ like that. How she hated to admit that she was jealous, jealous that she has never been held_ like_ that to express **affection**. Roxas has done that to her, but it must've meant _**nothing**_ to him. And the worst part was that Roxas was so oblivious to Joy's feelings.

Because she didn't want him to know. Putting up a smile, she said, "Don't mind me, I just came here to get my backpack." Slinging the strap over her shoulder, Joy collected her text books in her arms and started heading for the exit.

Roxas unwrapped his arms from around Jun and called out to her, "Joy, this isn't what it looks like."

"It's alright," Joy says, turning around from mid-step out the door, "I won't say anything." Going out the door, she added in a teasing way, "Don't do anything too major!"

'_Literally.'_

Roxas saw a glistening tear fall from the corner of Joy's eyes as she closed the door behind her.

Silence filled the dorm once again as Roxas and Jun stood there.

Roxas was obviously oblivious to Joy's feelings that were harboring in her heart. But, once he saw that tear fall from her violet eyes, he felt like something had stabbed within himself. Just seeing that one single tear caused his body to feel with guilt and regret. Why?

"Hey Roxas, do you want to wear this for the trip?"

Roxas whirled around to face Jun, who was holding up another one of his shirts next to his bed. "Um, maybe."

Jun shrugged at him and put the shirt in the 'thinking-about-it' pile.

* * *

The library of Twilight High was a large room to fit at least one-fourth of the student body containing rows and rows of shelves filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of books: fiction, nonfiction, textbooks, etc. All around the library were tables arranged so they were placed in different areas. This is the kind of library where it crosses between being either loud or silent. Today, only a few students were seated at the tables, wandering around the maze of book-shelves, even the librarian sat at her counter near the library entrance, thoroughly uninterested in being here during school break. 

Among the numerous tables near the entrance was Stacie and Kristina, whispering amongst themselves while trying to do their homework, but are easily being distracted from their work as they continued to chat with each other. It seemed that the issue the two were talking about was more important than their schoolwork.

"What should we do about the J.R.J. triangle?" Kristina asked her friend who sat next to her.

Yes; it was an issue that is very appropriate to talk about.

"J.R.J. triangle?"

If only someone would know what they're talking about. Kristina stared at Stacie with a look that mocked her companion.

"Oh! Joy - Roxas - Jun triangle?"

"No, Stacie!" Kristina sarcastically replied.

Stacie glared at the girl, "Shut up." Returning back to her paper, she asked, "What _can_ we do about them?"

"Well, we can try to convince Joy to confess to Roxas before anything serious gets in between him and Jun."

"Think about it, Kristina; this is Joy we're talking about. It'd take her forever just to admit to Roxas, and especially what's going on with the whole Jun thing, she's **really** not going to say anything." Stacie laid her head on her hand, in thinking mode, "Would Roxas even let anything happen between him and Jun?"

"Hm…it's a possibility."

A pair of textbooks landed on the table and the two girls faced forward and saw their unique-colored haired friend take a seat in front of them while placing her backpack upon the table as well. There was no greeting from the usual joyful friend; just silence as she took out her materials from her bag and quickly looked down on her work.

"What, no 'hi'?" Kristina asked her friend.

"Hi." Just like that. Her voice held no happiness and her tone didn't detain its usual cheeriness.

"You okay Joy?"

"Yes, I'm fine," Joy lied, looking up to her two friends with a smile.

Kristina and Stacie stared at their friend in confusion.

That smile.

There was something wrong with that smile.

Unlike Joy's genuine smile that showed teeth and made everyone else smile with her, the smile that was displayed on her face was … _fake._ No glee, no bliss, no content… nothing. It contained no trace of joy whatsoever.

It was a broken smile.

A smile that had never been present on Joy's face. _**Ever**_.

And they both knew that.

"What's wrong Joy? Did something happen?" Stacie asked.

Joy shook her head whilst giving her a confused look.

_Don't lie._

"Come on Joy," Kristina said this time, "We know something happened. Is it Roxas again?"

"Speaking of Roxas!" Joy exclaimed but was hushed by the librarian. Lowering her voice, she continued, "I think Roxas and Jun are getting together."

"What?!"

"Sh!" The librarian hushed to Kristina and Stacie. They quickly apologized.

"What are you talking about, Joy?" Stacie questioned her.

"Yeah! I just saw them have another one of their little moments together in the dorm. I think that one sets off the sparks once again; Roxas was holding Jun behind her around the waist, and they were _laughing_. Now _that_ says something."

Just going back on the memory of seeing the two not long ago, Joy felt the chills run down her arms as if a rain cloud was over her head, rain pouring out of it onto her. "Oh… look; it's raining outside. That's weird; does it usually rain in the winter during the afternoon?"

Neither Kristina nor Stacie answered her. Instead, Kristina said, "Joy, you know that Roxas likes you, right?"

Joy faced Kristina, "Of course I know that. That's why he's my friend."

"No Joy." Stacie bluntly said, "Roxas _really_ likes you."

A dash of hope filled her heart before being covered with her painful truth. "No, he doesn't! Weren't you just listening to me?"

"But, he does like you Joy! He's like obsessed with you!" Kristina tried to convince her friend.

"Would the three girls please be quiet and remain quiet, or else I _will_ kick you out of this library!" The librarian warned the girls' table.

The three girls nodded at the woman and Joy turned to her friends. Whispering, she said, "I don't think you can really make me believe what you're telling me. So, forgetting about that, let's leave before we get in even more trouble."

Kristina and Stacie sighed at the stubborn girl and followed her, putting their stuff away and getting ready to leave.

* * *

Roxas hurriedly walked down the halls to the library, his best friend Hayner at his side. Roxas needed to see, to see if Joy was alright. He did not miss that tear fall from her eye, he felt the pain in his chest, and he knew that she's crying… at least he thought she was. 

"Roxas, you need to tell Joy," Hayner advised to Roxas. Hayner knew what's been happening and he wants something happening before Roxas even thinks about Jun being back in his life. Hayner admits that Jun is _way_ different than the year before, but that doesn't mean anything. That was the past, and so is she. Joy and Roxas have been so much more than Jun has ever had with his best friend. In the last three months, Roxas and Joy have gone through so much together; those three months of memories equal one year of memories between Roxas and Jun.

Even though Roxas knows almost everything about Joy, Hayner knows one thing the girl. She's been hurt before. Unlike Roxas who was accepted by Jun in the beginning, Joy has been rejected and hurt from the very beginning. And if this Jun problem continues, then Joy will be hurt in the end as well. And Hayner… no, everyone doesn't want to see Joy get hurt once more.

Everyone is trying to make this right.

Everyone except the three important people that this problem is centered on: Roxas, Joy, and Jun.

"That's why I'm looking for her!" Roxas exclaimed at his best friend, "To tell her what happened in the dorm - "

"No, that's not what I'm talking about Roxas!" Being four feet away from the open-door entrance to the library, Hayner grabbed his friend's arm to stop him, "You need to tell her how - "

"Well, look here," the two best friends turned their heads and found Seifer and his friends walking toward the two with the overconfident smirk plastered on his face, "Roxas out and about without his girlfriend." Seifer had not yet seen Jun anywhere or heard of her.

"Leave us alone, Seifer. We have no time for you," Hayner spat as he glared at his enemy.

"No need to be jealous of Roxas, Hayner just 'cause you can't get a girl," Seifer remarked with a laugh, his goons behind him laughing along.

"Me jealous? I think _you're_ the one that's _jealous_, because you wish you had a girlfriend," Hayner countered, taking a step toward Seifer in a challenging way.

"Hayner," Roxas warned his best friend, putting a hand on Hayner's shoulder to stop him from stepping farther.

"That's right Roxas, stop him. I'm sure you're girlfriend, Joy wouldn't like any violence."

"She is _not_ my girlfriend." He replied coldly, glaring at Seifer. "We're just friends."

"Lies," Fuu inputs in the conversation.

Rai agreed with Fuu, "Yeah, ya know!" Vivi nodded his head as he continued to remain silent.

Seifer smirked, enjoying watching the blonde boy grow more and more flustered under his taunting. "We all know you like her."

"Lay off Seifer!" Hayner angrily yelled at the senior boy.

Seifer ignored the dirty-blonde, "You're just too chicken to tell her you're_feelings_."

"Tch. Like _**I**_ would really end up with _her_." Roxas narrowed his eyes. His words, as much as he hated to admit it, were true. Joy could be with any guy she wanted. It didn't make sense to him that she would choose_him._

Joy froze, about to take a step out the door from the library. A pained expression was present on her face and Stacie and Kristina had equal looks of shock on their own. Joy's lips were parted as if words were to escape from her mouth, but instead, her bottom lip started to quiver. It wasn't exactly the words that hurt her, but the way that it was expressed. The words weren't spoken in a way of denial that Joy wished they were… no… this was cold, straightforward, and most of all, painfully honest.

"Roxas!" Kristina exclaimed, causing both groups to finally take notice of the three girls standing at the door.

The aforementioned person took one look at Joy and in the next five seconds, heard his words echo back at him. Realization dawned on him as he winced at the double meaning of his words; not that she would never want him, but that _he_ would never want her. Kristina's and Stacie's gaped mouths were the only things that made Roxas know instantly that he was in trouble. Turning his attention to the smaller girl, he flinched at the sight of her.

Joy was looking at Seifer with a small smile, eyes glistening and clutching her books tightly against her chest.

_Pretend._

Roxas had never seen Joy like this.

"Seifer, you should know we're just friends." Closing her eyes in attempt to show she wasn't about to breakdown, she continued, "Besides, he has Jun, so don't try to twist things around from past observations." Starting to walk away from the scene, she tried to threaten Seifer like she would normally do, but this time… her voice held no intimidating tone (even though Seifer never was intimidated by the shorter girl), "If you do, you'll e-end up being six…feet under…" She finished, her voice quivering at the end. Sticking out her tongue at him before whirling around, a tear escaping from her eye, she scurried off.

"Joy!" Roxas tried to call after her.

The girl turned around with closed eyes and a smile was once again on her face.

_A broken smile._

"I'll see you later, Roxas," she simply said in a sweet tone before walking face-forward away.

It hurt, seeing her walk away like that. And it hurt even more knowing that he was the one that caused that pain on her. Roxas was about to run after Joy if Hayner hadn't grabbed his arm another time. Roxas looked at his best friend who shook his head, signaling for him not to run off after the girl.

"Jerk." Roxas and Hayner turned their heads back to their rivals, Fuu the one to make the comment with her emotionless expression.

"So you dumped Joy for your ex…" Seifer started.

"That's pretty low, ya know?" Rai crossed his arms in a disapproving way, shaking his head at Roxas, a surprising look of solemn across his tanned features.

"That is low, even for you, Roxas," Seifer pointed at Roxas, giving him a shameful look. "You dump a girl like _that_ for a girl like _Jun_. For a second, I thought you were getting smarter, but it seems you were the same **bonehead** as you were before."

In a sense, Seifer wasn't insulting Roxas, he was scolding him.

Everyone knew the feelings that connected Roxas and Joy to each other, and that included Seifer and his gang. They know when something's right and they know when to stop, even if it is they're rivals. Joy (they had to admit), she was different than the others. She took their bullying and made it into a joke that made them laugh as well, some of the times. And she had an influence on them, even the emotionless Fuu.

Having the final word, Seifer and his gang took off, leaving Roxas hanging his head in shame and Hayner standing there for the first time, letting Seifer have the last word.

"How could you, Roxas?" Kristina scolded the blonde boy, walking up to him.

Stacie followed after her, "Yeah! And what did you mean that you wouldn't end up with Joy?"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Roxas protested.

"Well, too late for that now," Kristina said.

"What do you mean, 'you didn't mean it like that?'" Stacie asked Roxas.

Roxas sighed before answering, "I meant she would never choose a guy like me."

Kristina punched Roxas in the arm, causing Roxas to grab his arm in reaction (she was_that _strong), "Why didn't you say that in the first place?!"

"Ow! I don't know!" Roxas rubbed his arm in the area that Kristina had hit him.

"Geez Roxas, think next time!" Stacie lectured him.

Hayner put a hand on Roxas' shoulder gaining his attention, "I'm going to repeat so it really nails you in the skull; you're seriously a _**bonehead**_, Roxas."

* * *

Joy hadn't come back to the dorm. Her bed all nice and neat, her suitcase and travel bag ready for the next day's trip, and Cookie's bed unoccupied. Roxas stared at Joy's side of the room from his seat on the bed. He had screwed up and he knew it; heck, he had to have Seifer rub it in his face as well. It was already nightfall and Joy still hadn't come back from wherever she had gone to. An apprehensive look overtook Roxas' features as he tried to forget the ideas of Joy being kidnapped again and the other idea of her running away from here. 

Roxas felt so guilty about earlier. It was as if something was eating at his heart as punishment for hurting a girl like Joy. He knew that Joy had taken his words opposite of what he meant to say. He saw that tear in her eye and that one little tear, once again, made him feel so stupid. He had hurt the girl twice on the same day, and he knew Joy was a fragile girl.

Joy was a strong girl, but she always kept things bottled within herself. And one day, she's really going to breakdown… or maybe she already has. The thought of her crying off somewhere made Roxas feel like a knife had stabbed his heart. The thought of her being sad _because_ of him made him feel useless.

_Click._

Roxas quickly sat upright in his bed and turned his attention to his door. The object slowly opened and before Roxas could fully see the person, he called out, "Joy?"

The door widened and there was standing Olette in her PJ's, "It's just me, Olette. Joy is sleeping in my dorm tonight." Roxas didn't need to ask why; he knew the answer already. Roxas watched as Olette walked over to Joy's closet and reached up, grabbing the sleeping bag that was rolled up neatly. Closing the closet door, she walked toward the dorm's door. Turning around, she said, "Roxas, you're a bonehead." And with that, she left the dorm, leaving Roxas to fall back onto his bed, guilt once again filling up his head.

* * *

I hope this chapter made you feel like crying : That's what I was mostly aiming for xPP Sorry for updating so late, I've been sooo busy and it's really hard to find the right words to describe what one is feeling. Authors, like me XP, really kill to put in the right word. So, hoping you likedthis chapter ! I enjoyed writing it! hehehe...Sorry there hasn't been any chapter previews; it's really unnecessary for me to put a preview because most of the time, what I put in the chapter preview doesn't happen really in the next chapter. So, sorry for that little mess up. Anyway, keep waiting for the next chapter! Keep thinking 'what's going to happen with Joy and Roxas!??!?!' 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

I'm _still_ **not** happy about the amount of reviews I'm getting... I know I'm pushing it this time, but reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _GRACIAS_! xD

**_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want **more** reviews _PLEASE_ ! xD


	16. Covetous Actions & Words

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC?(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC and this chapter may seem a bit rushed, you tell me xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, Fernando, and Chives.

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, an anonymous person, Evil-Sama, Minakui, AmyRoseAi, japaneserocker, my friend Marissa, For All The Broken Hearts and Chained Memories.

_ Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes, the bus seating and the table seating. Really helpful to understand how everything it set up in the story.**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Fifteen**_  
**Covetous Actions & Words**

"I'm back; how is she?" Olette closed the door behind her and entered her dorm.

Kristina and Stacie were still on the floor, laying out their sleeping bags as Amy continued to sit on the chair in front of the computer, watching the scene. Olette shifted her gaze to the person lying on Amy's bed, _Joy_.

The pouring rain that continued to tap at the window seemed to reflect how Joy felt that night. It was as if the clouds were crying with Joy as she laid upon the bed, facing the wall, her face unseen by the others in the room. Nevertheless, if they did, they would have seen the silent tears flowing from her eyes full of pain to the soft pillow underneath her head.

Amy turned to Olette and gave her a blank look, "The same as before." She pointed at the sleeping bag in Olette's arms. Catching the hint, Olette threw the sleeping bag to Amy who caught it securely and started setting it up in between hers and Olette's bed. Once she was done, she turned to the girl lying on her bed, "Joy, your bed is ready." Hearing no response, she stood up on her knees and leaned over Joy to find the girl sleeping, dried up tears still close to her eyes while Cookie laid snuggly next to her master. "She cried herself to sleep," Amy informed the others.

"I've never seen her so down like this," Olette admitted, taking a seat on her bed while gazing at her sleeping friend, "not even when she sees Roxas and Jun together…"

"Psh, obviously," Stacie exasperated in a hushed voice, "Roxas said the most stupidest thing in the world."

"Well, Roxas _did_ say he didn't mean it…" Kristina said.

"_**I meant she would never choose a guy like me."**_

"Kristina, if he really meant to say something else, he would've said _that_instead."

The girls swirled around to find Joy sitting on the edge of the bed, looking as if she was about to stand up. Her head was hanging, her short sea foam blue-green locks falling before her features in an attempt to cover her tear-stained face.

Kristina gazed at her friend, "But Joy, you know how Roxas is…"

"Yeah, he's a hopeless idiot," Stacie blurted out.

Everyone agreed with Stacie with a giggle. Everyone except for Joy, that is.

The corners of her lips didn't even twitch upwards. All she did was let out a sniffle as she rubbed at her eyes.

"You must really love him, huh, Joy?" Olette asked the girl.

"I don't love him," Joy answered with a slightly annoyed tone.

"Don't lie, Joy," Amy told her best friend, giving her a look, "If you didn't love him, you wouldn't be crying." Amy remembered before they came to Twilight High that every time Joy had been cast off by some crush, she'd end up forgetting about the boy and end up with a smile. But now, she's crying as if Cookie had just died.

The raven-haired short girl put a comforting hand on Joy's, "I've been best friends with you since the first day we met and have lived with you since 9th grade. I know you haven't cried like this for any guy, so why are you crying now?"

"Maybe because Joy loves Roxas?" Stacie hinted to Joy, trying to have her confess her feelings at least to her friends.

Joy didn't give an answer immediately.

But when she did, she looked up and everyone saw another tear roll down her cheek.

"Because he's the first to ever say something like _that._" And with that, Joy stood up and headed toward the bathroom.

Amy sighed after her.

"She's still lying…"

* * *

The morning had finally come. 

Today was the day of the Annual Snow Trip.

When everyone was getting their luggage and loading it onto their personal bus, Roxas Hikari laid in his bed, eyes closed but still awake, not noticing that it was already a new day.

He seemed to be in very _deep_ thought. His brows furrowed as if he was angered by something. _"Why am I so stupid?"_ Indeed, he was very angry by something.

His thoughts and feelings were interrupted when he heard a click from his door and he instantly sat upright. His head already turned toward the door, he saw it open, followed by his violet-eyed roommate. "…Joy!"

Joy looked at the blonde on his bed and for a second, Roxas saw something flicker in her eyes before she grinned saying, "You're not up yet, Roxas? Shame shame!" Doing the shame gesture on her hand, she left the door opened as she hopped to her bed where her luggage and backpack sat upon, "Everyone's already putting their stuff on the bus, which I still can't believe is Kairi's and Namine's, but anyway," strapping her backpack over her head and gripping a hand on her luggage, she headed for the door, "let's go Roxas! Before we leave you!"

As Joy started heading for the door, she heard a "wait!" and something grabbing her arm. Turning around, she found Roxas had stood up and was the one that had a firm grip around her upper arm.

She looked at him in confusion, "What is it?"

Roxas flickered his eyes toward his necklace and found his insides churn a bit when he still found the golden locket continuing to hang from her neck. "About yesterday…"

"What about yesterday?" She asked him innocently. _"He's probably just going to apologize, or lie saying it's not true, or something. Oh well, why avoid it? It's bound to happen anyway…"_

Roxas' grip loosened as he continued in a low voice, "I didn't --"

"Roxas!" The two looked toward the door to find that Jun had entered in on the scene. She stopped for a second and the grin that was displayed on her features started turning into a frown. "Oh, whoops. Did I interrupt something?"

Noticing the frown, Joy quickly replied, "No, of course not. Roxas, I'm sure Jun can help you get ready with your stuff." Removing her arm from Roxas' grip, she walked pass by Jun and out the door, calling out, "I'll see you two at the bus!"

Roxas stared after Joy as he mentally sighed. "I'm guessing I _did_ come at the wrong moment." Roxas looked up at Jun who gave him a guilty smile and shaking his head, he got his stuff ready.

* * *

"Geez Selphie! What do you have in here?!" Hayner complained as he and Riku carried Selphie's **humungous** suitcase into the bus. 

"Just a few of my things," Selphie said from the window inside the bus in an innocent tone.

"And by few, she means 'countless,'" Kairi told the boys while she grinned, also inside the bus.

"I'll say," Demyx agreed as he waited for the two boys to get out of the way so he can load another luggage into the bus.

Inside the bus already was Fernando, Kristina, Stacie, Selphie, Pence, Namine, Marluxia, Larxene, Olette, Kairi and the bus driver. Outside the bus helping with loading the luggage and suitcases were Riku, Demyx, Hayner, Sora, Axel, Zexion, and Amy. Roxas, Jun, and Joy were the only ones not outside.

Scratch that. Roxas _and_ Jun were the only ones not outside.

"I'm here! Here's my luggage!" Joy shouted as she walked quickly to the bus. She dropped her luggage while rubbing her covered arms, "Gosh! It's cold!!" Joy started to shiver in the low temperature climate.

"Obviously, it's winter!" Amy teased her best friend. Joy merely stuck her tongue out. Amy walked up to Joy and whispered in her ear, "Are you okay?"

"Of course," Joy told her. Handing her backpack to Amy, she asked, "Can you put my backpack in the bus for me? I forgot something really fast." Her backpack off, Joy was already running off back toward the school building.

"Don't take too long!" Amy yelled out to her. Amy turned around and shared a look with Hayner before getting onto the bus, Riku following her.

Selphie once again poked her head out of the bus window and had one of her famous evil-scheming grins, "Hey guys, hurry up and get a seat so we can get Roxas and Joy to sit together."

Demyx stared at Selphie in slight confusion, "Why? They'll most likely end up sitting next to each other, won't they?"

Hayner hurriedly started throwing the remaining luggage into the bus, "I agree with Selphie, they _need_ to sit next to each other."

"Why's that, Hayner?" Sora asked as he too started throwing the luggage in.

Hayner didn't answer. "We're here!" Jun and Roxas was running toward them.

"Finally!" Axel exasperated at the two. "I knew you'd sleep-in on an important day as this," he commented to Roxas.

Hayner walked up to the two, "And since you two took forever, we're going to go on the bus while you two load up your own luggage."

Before the two could protest, Hayner, Sora, Axel, Zexion, and Demyx were running inside the bus (except for Zexion who merely walked in). Jun and Roxas stared after them before Jun looked down at her luggage… and bag… and backpack… and purse… and her suitcase. She left all her bags except for her purse and backpack and quickly said, "Thanks Roxas!"

"What?!" Roxas stared after the girl with an open mouth and saw her stick out her tongue playfully before running in the bus. Roxas shook his head and started loading his - and apparently, Jun's - luggage and bags onto the bus compartment.

* * *

"Hey," Amy called out from the front seat of the bus, "did anyone bring a DS?" 

Axel, Demyx, Stacie, Kristina, Namine, and Sora raised their hands while saying, "I did!"

"Awesome! Picto chat!!" Amy exclaimed, sitting back down in her seat next to Riku.

"Chives, you ready for the five-hour long drive up to the mountains?" Pence yelled to the bus driver.

"Ready as ever!" He replied with a grin, tipping his hat in the mirror to Pence, "But the question is, are _you_ guys ready?"

"You bet we are!" Hayner shouted in glee as he took a seat at the back of the bus in between Olette and Marluxia.

"Meow!" Cookie was sitting on Stacie's lap, agreeing with Hayner as she continued to play with Stacie, who in turn laughed at the cat.

"Cookie's ready!"

"Still waiting for some slow-pokes though," Zexion calmly said.

"I'm here!" Jun shouted as she entered the bus. She started putting her bag in the compartments above and took a seat behind Riku next to the window.

"Where's Roxas?" Axel asked the girl.

"He's still out there, putting away the luggage."

Larxene turned in her seat and looked at Jun, "And you already stuffed your stuff in?"

Jun shook her head with an 'innocent' smile, "Roxas offered to put it away for me."

"He did?" Axel asked with an arched eyebrow. Jun nodded in response and proceeded to looking in her purse. Axel turned back to Larxene who sat next to him and they both shared a look.

"Selphie, stop talking to Tidus!" Olette complained from next to Selphie.

Selphie covered the receiver of her cell phone and glared at Olette, "Sheesh, it's not my fault; Tidus is the one that called me," sticking out her tongue, Selphie went back to her call.

"Selphie, quit talkin' to your _boyfriend_!" Hayner teased the brunette with the cell phone.

At that comment, Selphie quickly started to turn pink, "He's not my boyfriend!"

Kairi turned around in her seat in front of Olette and said, "That's such a lie, Selphie. Admit it, you like him."

"I do not!" Selphie denied, her cheeks turning crimson.

Kairi poked the girl's cheeks and grinned, "How cute, Selphie's blushing!"

Everyone in the back laughed at the girl as she tried to continue talking to Tidus on her cell phone. Demyx was listening to his iPod, drumming on his knees to the beat while Pence who sat next to him was preparing his camera. Namine was in her aisle seat next to Fernando, drawing in her sketch book to pass the time while Fernando pestered Stacie for her iPod.

"Stacie, please?"

"No." Stacie was becoming irritated.

"Please?" Fernando wasn't about to give up.

"Don't make me hurt you, Fernando," Stacie threatened as she readied to attack the blonde with her travel pillow.

All of a sudden, an iPod was dangling in front of Fernando's face, "Here Fernando, just listen to mine for now." With a grunt, Fernando took Kristina's iPod and started listening to it. "Oh what, no 'thank you?'" Kristina asked him, but he didn't hear her as he was already listening to the music on high volume. Kristina pouted as she sat back down next to Marluxia. Everyone was accounted for except for Roxas and Joy.

"What is taking Joy?" Amy asked herself, impatiently.

"Probably rushing back to the bus right now," Riku replied to her, his eyes still fixed on Amy's DS in his hands as he played a video game.

"I hope so."

Axel who sat in the seats next to Amy's turned around in his seat to face Zexion who was sitting next to the window. "Hey Zexion," he called out to him.

Unclosing his eyes, Zexion fixed his gaze to Axel, "What?"

"This could be trouble," Axel told the blue-haired guy with a low voice, glancing over at Jun. Zexion also turned his gaze to the girl who continued rummaging through her purse, seemingly looking for something within its contents.

"What do you want me to do this time?" Zexion awaited for Axel's plan as he sat back in a comfortable position, closing his eyes as he listened for his part of the plot to come up.

* * *

Roxas was closing the compartment of the luggages when he heard the faint voice of Joy, "Wait! Don't leave me!!" 

Roxas turned around once he had successfully closed the compartment and grinned at the running figure of his roommate, "In a rush now, are we?" Roxas had noticed something poking out of her jacket's pocket before she reached him, bending over to catch her breath.

"Be - quiet!" Joy replied in between pants as she reached Roxas.

Roxas stared at his roommate, a tentative expression on his face before asking, "Ready to go?"

"Now I am!" Joy told the boy, grinning up at him. "Let's go!"

"Hey Joy?" Roxas called out to her, stopping her from running into the bus. Joy looked back at him in confusion, "Sit with me?"

Joy tilted her head a bit before replying, "Oh, uh, sure?" Joy shrugged her shoulders before starting to walk into the bus.

Roxas frowned a bit, _"She's avoiding looking into my eyes… she's acting as if yesterday never happened…"_

* * *

"Ah, here are the slow-pokes!" Chives, the bus driver, exclaimed, letting the teens in the bus know that they were finally about to depart. At that moment, Amy warned Axel as he handed Zexion some cash before he and Amy sat back down in their seats. 

Joy laughed and started to apologize as she climbed in the bus, "Sorry guys, I went to check my mail."

"Don't want to leave Joy behind," Roxas said after, following behind her.

"Joy! You're finally here!" Amy shouted happily with a grin.

Joy and Roxas noticed the only available seats left were next to Jun and the seat next to Zexion in the second row. Joy looked from one seat to the other before turning around to face Roxas. "Um… well, I guess we can - whoa!"

Zexion had all of a sudden pulled on Joy's arm and had - in a way - forced her to sit down next to him. Both Joy and Roxas looked at Zexion in mild surprise. He just gave both of them a blank look before saying, "Just sit down so we can go."

The blue-green haired girl sweat dropped at that comment and looked back at Roxas, "Maybe on the ride back or something?"

Roxas watched as Joy shifted to a more comfortable position as she poked Axel in the head playfully and when he looked back at her, she merely grinned innocently. The blonde still standing up gave Zexion a slight glare who was merely facing the window with unopened eyes.

"Come on, Roxas! This is your seat," Jun informed the blonde as she yanked him down into the seat next to him.

"Everybody ready?!" Chives shouted, his hand already on the stick-shift.

"YEAH!"

"Off we go!" Chives pushed the gear-shift and the bus growled as it turned on.

_VROOOMMMMMM !_

And as the bus started to move, the teens awaited for the events that will happen on snowy Mt. Radiant.

* * *

"Hey Joy, I have your DS," Amy gave Joy's white DS to her. 

"Oh, I was looking for it," Joy said, reaching for it. "Are you playing tetris?"

"Yeah, wanna play?"

"Okay."

"You two going to play tetris?" Axel asked.

"Yeah, want to play too, Axel?" Joy asked the red-head in front of her as she turned on her game.

"No, but I bet Larxene would," Axel turned to his bus-buddy and nudged, "huh, Larxene?"

Larxene stared at the DS in Axel's hands before grabbing it and saying, "Shrimp, shortie, you're both going down!"

"We'll just see about that!" Amy exclaimed and the three girls were off playing their little tetris tournament.

After a few moments, Zexion has opened his eyes and registering what's going on, he looked over at Joy's DS and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Playing tetris, obviously."

Roxas was quite bored on the bus since it had been an hour since they had left the school. Jun was talking on her cell phone at the moment, so he had his eyes close, but when he heard Zexion talking to Joy, he snapped his eyes open and turned his head a bit to see Zexion looking at the handheld in Joy's hands closely, too close for Roxas' liking.

"That wasn't a smart move, Joy," Zexion told the girl.

"Be quiet," Joy merely said to him, laughing a bit knowing that he was probably right.

At that moment, on Joy's screen, it read '**You Lose**'.

"NOOOOO!" Joy exclaimed, pouting a bit.

"Told you."

Joy turned her head to her seat-mate and glared at him. Zexion merely looked back with the same smirk he had on when she made the wrong move in the game. Seeing his smirk, Joy ceased her glare and instead, pushed him playfully, saying, "I hate you, Zexion."

"Of course you do," he replied sarcastically.

"Yes I do. See? Even _you_ agree with me," she said to him grinning.

Zexion stared at her with a fixed expression before responding, "You keep telling yourself that." Patting her head as if she were a cat, he turned back to the window and crossed his arms once again.

Joy pouted at him once more and then turns back to her game.

Despite what normal people would think, Roxas knew Zexion. And he knew that Zexion _was_ **flirting** with Joy. And that was the reason why Roxas' hands were in small fists at the moment. He was going to keep an eye on those two.

"Roxas!" The blonde boy abruptly turned his head - almost causing him whiplash - to Jun to find that she was off her cell and now facing him. "Are we going to do Secret Santa like last year again?"

"Yeah, we do it every year. Why?"

"Oh, just wondering." Jun turned back to the window, but she still glanced back at Roxas as she pondered aloud, "I hope someone gets me a really great gift this year."

Roxas arched his eyebrow at the girl. Noticing Jun's strange behavior, he recognized her actions and knew where she was going with this, "What kind of present would that be?"

"Uh, I don't know, maybe something like a - "

"NOOOOOO!" Amy's voice was heard throughout the entire bus.

"And_ that_ is how you play tetris," Larxene boasted as she smirked, giving back the handheld game to Axel.

"Wow Amy, you got **owned**!" Axel exclaimed, laughing at the raven-haired girl.

"Shut up," Amy whined, stomping her feet in anger. She was usually an expert at this game, but Larxene had beaten her like it was nothing.

"Calm down, Amy, it's just a game," Riku cooed to his girlfriend in an attempt to make the girl at peace once again. He was failing.

Amy continued to complain, "No! Not until I beat Larxene!"

"Forget it, once is enough. Besides, I'm pretty sure Joy doesn't want to play anymore." Larxene didn't take a glimpse behind her but when Amy looked back to check it out, she found that Joy had fallen asleep in her seat, her DS on her lap, loosely held in her unclenched hands.

"Dip!" Chives warned as the bus reduced speed, dropped into a dip and back to level.

That little drop had caused Joy's head to wobble before falling onto Zexion's shoulder, and that's the reason why Roxas felt his fists clench tightly. He started to feel his blood burn up inside him as he glared at Zexion out of the corner of his eyes. Zexion felt the glare on him and smirked inside, as well as Axel, and started running his hand gently through Joy's hair, making the sleeping girl doze off peacefully.

The beast within Roxas roared in his heart as he glared at Zexion's affection for Joy. But when the angered blonde glanced over at the sleeping girl, his rage started to lessen upon seeing the young girl at peace.

Joy's unique blue-green hair fell around her face in a way to show that she was at peace. Her closed eyes and her lips parted, her even breaths in sync with her rising chest. Joy's eyelashes quavered prettily; she was too gentle, too soft, too secured.

This was a rare site for Roxas for he was usually the one to fall asleep first since Joy stayed up on the computer in their dorm. Roxas didn't exactly know when she fell asleep or what she looked like when she was already sleep because she was always awake before him.

Roxas was captivated. His bright, immature yet mature, innocent unique-colored friend now looked dangerously fragile, as if a single touch would shatter her into a million pieces.

Just staring at this girl, Roxas suddenly felt something stir in his gut; he felt protective, possessive over her, because _he_ didn't want anyone to see the way her parted lips quiver with her soft breaths, or the way she started to curl up defensively, or the way that her hair reflected against the snow in the background.

The harmony radiating off the girl made the corners of Roxas' lips twitch up and would have turned into a smile if he hadn't seen the hand upon Joy's hair. The hand that ran down her shoulder-length hair. The hand that ran its fingers along her mane and then back up to do again. The hand that made Roxas' smile turn upside down into a frown, his fists clenched once more. The hand that he envied.

Many people in the front few rows of the bus saw this and one of them smirked as they thought, _"Keep going, Zexion. It's working!"_

Not taking notice of the little event happening behind him, the bus driver informed the passengers, "Two and a half more hours everyone!"

* * *

"We're here!" Chives alerted the teenager passengers, waking them up from the silence. 

"Already?!" Amy exclaimed whilst stopping in the middle of her DS game and looking out the window. "It's only been half an hour!" She yelled astonishingly.

"Actually, it's only been like an hour and a half," Axel told the girl.

"Whatever!" Amy exasperated with a huff.

"Keep your pants on, Amy, we're only having a breakfast stop," Axel explained to the dumbfounded girl. "None of us ate breakfast this morning." Getting up from his seat, Axel started to stretch as well as half of the others on the bus.

"We do this every year, Amy," Riku told his girlfriend, also standing up.

"Oh…" Amy responded quietly, giving him a sheepish look.

Riku chuckled at her and patted her head, "It's okay, you'll get used to it."

Larxene turned in her seat to look at Joy and smirked at what lay before her eyes, "Hey Zexion, you seem comfortable."

The front rows that were paying attention turned to the aforementioned boy and found that Joy was still asleep on his shoulder, him in a very comfortable position. It seems Chives forewarning did not wake her up from her slumber. Zexion was sitting there, with Joy's head on his shoulder, while he read in his book.

Roxas who had been staring at the two almost the whole time continued to glare at him icily. Black eyes next to him noticed the ordeal and her lips turned a very deep frown.

Axel also smirked on the inside as he saw Roxas' reaction and looked toward Zexion, "Great job, Zex, finally getting yourself a girl?"

Zexion looked up from his reading and stared at Axel for a moment. Taking a glimpse at the teen on his shoulder, he shrugged his shoulders and put his book down. The shifting caused Joy to stir a little until she suddenly made a low groaning noise.

When she didn't open her eyes, Zexion poked her forehead. Fluttering her eyes open, she discovered that everyone was staring at her. Sitting up properly, she started rubbing her eyes, "What happened?"

"Well, we're here at Seven Wonders about to eat breakfast," Axel answered her.

"Seven Wonders?" Joy turned her to the window to find a small restaurant open.

"It's the restaurant we always go to before our snow trip," Larxene said, stretching her arms.

"Oh, okay," Joy quietly responded as she stood up and started to stretch as well.

"So, Joy," Amy slyly said, "did you have a nice nap?"

Joy looked at Amy with a suspicious look before saying, "Yes…why?"

"Ah, I see," Amy nodded with a knowing grin. "So, Zexion's shoulder must be really comfortable, ne?"

Joy looked at her confused before realizing what she was implying, she quickly turned to Zexion who had his arms crossed and his eyes were closed. It seemed he was going to get up once Joy had moved out of the way. "Did I really sleep on your shoulder, Zexion?" Zexion shrugged his shoulders. "Did I??"

Before Zexion had to answer, Larxene intervened, "Calm down, shrimp, it doesn't even matter," she told the girl as she waved at her.

"Yeah, come on Joy, breakfast!" Amy exclaimed as she grabbed Joy's hand and dragged her out of the bus, running to the restaurant.

"What just happened?" Pence asked as he started walking to the open doors of the bus.

Roxas stared after Joy before shrugging his own shoulders at Pence and walking out of the bus.

"Wait up Roxas!" Jun called out to him as she followed after him.

Pence shot Axel a look, indicating to his camera that was hanging around his neck. Axel gave him the thumbs up and looked at Larxene. They both shared a look.

Riku looked from Axel to Larxene to Pence to Zexion and then to Roxas who was being followed by Jun. "Oh no… Axel," Riku said in a firm tone.

Axel knew that tone. He looked back at the long-hair guy and gave him an innocent grin. "What?" He asked innocently, the innocent grin still on.

* * *

"Wow,_all of you_ are going to the mountains?" The manager of Seven Wonders asked the group of twenty. 

The waiters and waitresses all had assemble four tables together to fit the teenagers. The restaurant was quiet for the moment, not many customers dining. The manager, Yuna, was a good friend to the regular teens and was a lovely woman of twenty-one.

"Yes, we all are," Kairi told the manager.

"How've you been, Yuna?" Namine asked the brunette.

Yuna turned her head to Kairi's sister and replied, "I've been okay. Business has been a little slow because of the season, but we're all okay. Rikku and Paine are in the back."

"Oh! Has Rikku beat my high score yet?!" Sora asked eagerly from his seat next to Kairi.

Yuna giggled at the energetic boy before answering, "No, she hasn't yet."

"Awesome! I'm still the best!" Sora jumped in his seat enthusiastically.

On the other side of the table, the teens were looking at their menus. Jun _had_ to share a menu with Roxas since the "waitress forgot" to give her a menu.

"Roxas, I can't see the menu!" Jun whined cutely, leaning on Roxas shoulder more to "look" at the menu.

Roxas didn't say anything as he stared at the menu. He looked over his menu and across to Joy to find her staring at him before she looked down at her own menu. What was Roxas suppose to do? He knows that she's been seeing Jun's actions toward him, and he's starting to notice what Jun is aiming for. He was getting smart, but not at the right times. Roxas wanted to just comfort his roommate, to let her know that she was still in his heart. He felt as if he had pushed her away without knowing it. He was the villain in this story and he wish he wasn't.

"Zexion," Joy called to her seat-mate, still looking through the menu, "what should I get?"

"Food," he bluntly replied, his menu unopened in front of him. He already had the order he wanted in his brain, so he just rested his head on his hand as he waited for everyone to pick what they were going to order, a bored expression on his face.

Joy gave him an annoyed look, "Obviously!"

"You asked."

Joy huffed at him and stuck her tongue at him before looking down at her menu on the table. Zexion sighed as he lifted his head and pointed his finger to a breakfast dish on the menu. "…Shooting Star?"

**Shooting Star**

_A slice of french toast cut up into a shape of a star, the cut up pieces trailing behind it. One of our special wonders. Also served with two eggs and hash brown (or bacon or sausage)._

"Wow, Zexion actually taking some time away from his 'mysterious-aura' to helping someone, that's rare." Joy turned her head to find that a waitress was standing behind her, "Oh! The Shooting Star? Nice choice, it's one of my favorites on the menu!" The woman, with tied up blonde hair with a blue bandana-like material, was bending over and looking over Joy's shoulder, a pen and notepad out. "I also suggest the _Chocolate Falls_ with that."

"What's that?" Joy questioned the server.

Rikku beamed at her customer and replied, "It's kind of like hot cocoa but even better!"

"Oh! Make that two!" Amy exclaimed from next to Joy.

Writing down the order, she heard someone call for her, "Hey Rikku!"

The blonde turned her head and grinned once she saw the pyro. "Ax-el! My home-boy!" She exclaimed and went to him, doing a little handshake in the process.

_**BANG!**_

Everyone turned their heads to the seats of Stacie and Kristina who were laughing along with Demyx, Marluxia, and Fernando (who was at the other end of the table). They saw Kristina holding her forehead in pain, yet still laughing her butt off. Stacie and Demyx were pointing at her while laughing hysterically.

"What happened?" Joy asked perplexed. The unique colored haired girl cocked her head to the side as she continued to stare at Kristina in bewilderment.

Kristina's laughter hadn't died down until after a few moments later as she still continued to hold her forehead. "Demyx was telling a joke, and like, it made me laugh so hard that I banged my head against the table."

Stacie and Demyx laughed once again, recalling the moment, but everyone else just continued to stare at them. It's like they say, 'you need to see it to believe it,' and in this case, it was 'you needed to see the moment in order to laugh at it.'

"Okay…well, how would you like your eggs?" Joy turned her head back to the server and found that Rikku looked back at her with a beaming smile.

"Over-easy please," Joy replied, smiling back.

"Okay then!" Rikku exclaimed enthusiastically.

* * *

_**I couldn't help but look up from my breakfast to the girl across from me. She was happily eating her breakfast, no troubles shown in her attitude. It was as if she had forgotten about the events of yesterday. Or maybe she was trying to forget them? I've known her for awhile. I know she doesn't want troubles getting in her life, and she doesn't want them burdening her shoulders. Is that what she's doing? Trying to forget what happened yesterday by trying to ignore me?**_

_**She just glanced at me. I stare back at her. She looks away.**_

_**It's been like that for awhile now. I would catch her taking a glance at me and when she noticed I saw her, she would look away. What did that mean? Was she just looking up from her food or was she trying to see what I was doing? I don't know.**_

_**But, she's always looking up right when Jun is doing something to me: stealing bits of my food, poking me in the head, trying to feed me, just trying to get my attention. It's kind of starting to bug me because… Joy use to do that to me. Emphasis on the 'use'. **_

…_**I miss her…**_

"I'm going to the bathroom," Joy told Amy as she got up.

Amy turned to her and ready to get up, she asked, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, it's okay," Joy shook her head and was about to walk away when she realized something. She turned to her blue-headed friend with an embarrassed look.

Before a word came out of her mouth, Zexion said, "That hallway over there, the second door on your left."

"Right," Joy replied, "thank you." Now, she was starting to head in that direction if someone hadn't stopped her.

"Wait, Joy!" She turned around to find that Jun had gotten back up and walking over toward her, "I'll join you." Joy nodded and the two girls proceed to the restroom.

* * *

Joy sat in her stall, doing her business as Jun was in front of the mirror, putting on her make-up. There was a silence between the two as both did their restroom needs quietly. 

"Hey Joy," Jun called out to the girl on the toilet.

"Yeah?"

Taking out a pink lip gloss, Jun continued, "Where'd you get your necklace from?"

Joy immediately put a hand to her neck and found the locket still hanging. Walking out of the stall and toward the sinks, she answered, "From Roxas, why?"

Jun didn't answer but applied to the lip gloss to her pink lips. Smearing the gloss on, she took her time before actually answering. "It's mine." The applied lip gloss made the girl's lips shimmer a shiny pink.

"Huh?" Joy asked, not catching the last bit Jun had said as she wiped her hands on a paper towel.

Suddenly, Joy was forcefully turned to face a furrowed brow - angry - girl. Joy had a look of surprised shock contrary to Jun who had an infuriated look on her features. "That necklace," she pointed to the golden jewelry around Joy's neck, "is _mine._ And I'm going to take it back, so you better give it back to Roxas… _or else._"

If this was Amy or Kristina, or just someone else, Joy would be laughing taking it as a joke. But this was no joke, and that forceful jerk just reminded her of that night when the hostage came. And to know that the locket hanging from her neck was actually given to someone else before her made her heart jerk a bit. She thought that _that_ necklace that had been hanging from her neck for weeks was made for her and only for her.

"That necklace is rightfully mine," Jun continued, taking the locket in her hand, "Roxas gave me this exact necklace right when we got together. That's why there's a 'J' engraved on it in the first place. It was for **me**. Not for _you._ Roxas only gave you that necklace because you reminded him of _**me**_." Jun gave Joy a smirk as she released the necklace from her hands, "But now I'm back, and I want _him_ back." She jabbed a finger into Joy's chest, her height over-towering Joy's small figure, "So, quit making him look your way. Because of you, Roxas isn't thinking straight. Roxas doesn't need you, a small scaredy-cat," pointing to herself, she gave off a simper, "he needs a grown-up _woman_. I know you're past Joy, and Roxas doesn't deserve a loser like you. He's **mine**."

That made Joy rather upset. "Roxas is not an object--"

"**Stay away** from _him,_" Jun intercepted with a venomous tone.

That tone was enough to scare the other girl in the room. The frightened look on Joy's face said it all. She was afraid of Jun. But more importantly, she was surprised. Joy slowly took in Jun's threat, taking in all the hurtful words that were just thrown at her like a nuclear bomb. That's when she realized something…

To Roxas, Joy was only a comparison of Jun?

Joy couldn't ponder on the answer. Jun gave a sneer to Joy before going to her purse that was perched on the sink counter, clicked it close and headed for the door. As she opened the object, she stopped for a second and finally said, "No one will like you, Joy. Oh, and don't tell anyone about our little 'meeting.'" And with that, Jun closed the door behind her leaving Joy still in shock in the lavatory.

A few moments passed as Joy continued to stand there. Shaking a bit, Joy reached a trembling hand to the locket.

"_Not for _you._"_

Feeling a tear waiting to fall from her eye, her hands reached behind her neck and unhooked the locket. The tear that had threatened to fall finally fell from her eye and slid down her soft cheek. Holding the locket in her hand, she stared down on it.

"_No one will like you, Joy."_

"_This locket represents our golden friendship."_

"Why…?"

_Why only friends?_

_Why is it always only friends?!_

Clutching the locket in her hand, she fell to her knees and felt the golden jewelry slip from her hands as she cried into her palms. Silent sobs was heard in the bathroom, yet reaching no one's ears outside of the door.

* * *

Roxas sat at the table, bored out of his mind. Jun and Joy were taking quite awhile in the ladies' room. Hearing a noisy purse, Roxas turned his head to find that Jun had claimed her seat back next to him. Looking across from him, he found the chair opposite him was still empty. Turning to Jun, he asked about his roommate. 

"Oh, she's still in the ladies' room. Doing _business_," she replied, giving him a sickened look.

"Oh," Roxas merely said, ignoring the last bit of her answer.

Suddenly, Roxas felt a wave of distress. _"Something doesn't feel right,"_ the boy thought as he stared at the empty seat across from him. Another moment later, he felt sorrow fill his heart. Clutching his shirt where his heart would be, he felt himself feel nervous. _"What's going on?"_

"Roxas, what's wrong?" The blonde turned his head to Jun to find that she had latched onto his arm like a dog. "Do you need anything?"

* * *

Jun's words still ringing in Joy's ears as she continued to cry on the floor. She had broke down crying for the first time ever in her entire life. This was new to her, and she didn't even know what to think.

_So, all those times of our spending time together only reminded Roxas of the times he spent with Jun? No wonder he said he wouldn't like me…_

* * *

Ohohohoho! Bet you didn't expect that:) Hehehe... I know, this story seems like it's going toward Zexion, but it's not, I assure you. Also, you know, when I said 'Zexion' to my friend, she's all like 'Sexy?' and I'm like 'No! Not sexy, _Zex-i-on_! So funny xP 

Sorry it took me forever to write this chapter! School problems (I'm failing english... weird huh?) and _other_ problems. Also XMAS too!!!!**  
**

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

Reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _GRACIAS_! xD

**_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want **more** reviews _PLEASE_ ! xD

P.S. Just warning you all now, the story almost done:)) Christmas also coming up so I'm trying to do like a writing the story marathon because I'm thinking of making this other story as well. Anyone ever heard of the game 'Persona 3?'


	17. Question After Question

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC?(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC and near the ending, I bet I rushed it a bit, and I apologize for that. I'm just trying to put in chapter 17 in today because chapter 17 is all about christmas:

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, Fernando, Cris, and Taffy.

**Side Note**: Did you guys knows that my name is Joy ? Hehe xP Also, I formally had an OC's name to Kit, but my friend that represented that name disliked that name, so I have changed it to 'Cris'. (_YOU HAPPY NOW, MY FRIEND THAT I WILL NOT MENTION?! _xP)

Thank you for the reviews: -sO-aSiAn-, haru-teri22, shadowoflight22, strawberyla, an anonymous person, Evil-Sama, Minakui, AmyRoseAi, japaneserocker, my friend Marissa, For All The Broken Hearts and Chained Memories.

_ Go to profile to see what the dorm look likes__**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Sixteen**_  
**Question After Question**

_Why? _

_Why does it hurt so much?_

_Why am I crying so hard?_

The sobbing girl slowly reached in her jacket pocket and pulled out a small white envelope. The envelope was addressed to her and Amy, written in small and neat handwriting. Sealed on the back was a golden sticker with the initials _'L.K.'_ imprinted upon it. Carefully breaking the seal, she opened the envelope and leisurely took out a rosy felt piece of paper. Unfolding the letter, the paper was filled out with the same small and neat cursive as the front; the writing of a woman.

Joy's eyes read across the letter and more tears filled up her eyes.

* * *

"What took you so long Joy?" Amy asks concerned as her best friend takes her seat next to her. 

"Well, you know, had some 'business' to take care of!" Joy responds with a grin.

Amy shook her head at her best friend but did not fail to notice something different about Joy. Her voice was softer than usual and her hair seemed unusually glossy. Amy cautiously ran a hand through Joy's hair and found her hair a little damp. Joy quickly swatted at her hand playfully but Amy did see the major difference in behavior from her best friend than her usual hyper self; her violet eyes were red and puffy.

Joy, quickly realizing Amy was catching on, immediately turned to her unfinished breakfast. Amy studied her best friend's behavior; Joy glancing back at Amy, avoiding looking up to Jun flirting with Roxas yet clearly hearing their conversation, and Joy gingerly eats her breakfast. From past experiences, Amy knew something was up.

"Oh Roxas, is that a six pack I feel?" Jun's repulsive voice reached Joy's ears as she was about to take another bite into her French toast. She took a cautious peek at the two across from her; what she saw almost made her jaw drop and spit out the food in her mouth. **(A/N: I hate girls that do this, y'know, with that 'seductive' voice. It really just disgusts me xP)**

Jun's hand was placed against Roxas' stomach area and was practically groping his abs. The bit of food in Joy's mouth was soaked up by saliva as Joy's violet eyes stared down at her plate of food, her fork loosely in her hand, Amy still observing.

"**Be quiet Roxas," Joy embarrassingly ordered as she stuck out her tongue at him immaturely.**

"**Very mature," he said to her sarcastically. Joy merely pouted at Roxas as he looked at the girl with an amusing smirk, "Hey, it's not my fault that you can't - "**

**Before he could finish, he was jabbed in the stomach by a poke. Roxas raised an eyebrow at the female who was currently glaring at him. The poke that he had received from her had done no harm to him whatsoever, considering that he had abs exactly where she had jabbed. A moment later, she was holding her finger tightly in her other hand, "What the heck??"**

"**What?" He questioned the girl, a smirk hidden behind his confused face.**

**Getting over the mutual pain, Joy started to repeatedly poke his stomach (softer this time), hitting a flat, hard stomach. "What is this??"**

"**My stomach," he bluntly answered, very amused by her reaction.**

"**No! What is all **_**this**_**?!" Joy exclaimed, poking all over his abs in surprise. **(A/N: Haha, this is what I do to guys xP)

"**It's called muscle," Roxas replied with a grin, and grabbing her hand, stopping her from continuing her poking, and looked down on her. "Something**_** you**_** apparently don't have, but need."**

"**Hey!! What's that suppose to mean?" Joy yelled at him, clearly insulted.**

**Roxas laughed at Joy's reaction, "Just kidding." And with that, he patted her on the head like a little cat.**

**Joy pouted at him whilst sticking her tongue out once again. "Meanie…"**

"Psh, I bet mines better," Axel retorted to Jun.

Jun and Roxas looked back to the red-head and saw him flexing, showing off his muscles to prove his point. Roxas snorted at him, "You wish Axel."

Axel leaned over the table, a challenging look across his features, "I think it's the other way around mate." **(A/N: Pirates! LOL)**

Amy took her gaze away from the silent Joy and turned it towards the argument between Roxas and Axel. Larxene had caught her eye and Amy knew exactly what was going on. Looking toward Jun, the raven-haired girl found that she had a disapproving expression as she was unmistakably excluded from the argument of 'muscles'. It was quite amusing to Amy as Roxas, without knowing it, had just left Jun out right after she attempted to flirt with him. Amy's amusement soon ended when she turned her chocolate brown eyes to her best friend who was still staring at her food, missing what was happening out of her little world.

"Ha! Everyone knows I have _way_ more muscle than the both of you!" Kristina exclaimed, standing up in a prideful manner, interjecting Roxas and Axel's argument.

Roxas and Axel stared at the girl who had just stood up with disbelieving eyes. "Wanna bet?" Axel asked her.

"Yes I would," Kristina dared the red-head with full eye-contact.

Amy would have to ask about Joy's unusual behavior later.

* * *

One hour until they were all at Mt. Radiant. 

"For those of you awake, we're on Mt. Radiant now," Chives called out.

Mt. Radiant was an enormous mountain that was currently covered by a blanket of snow. Snow white trees were seen as the equally white bus drove on the trail toward the summit. It was beautiful; the small lakes they passed by were frozen and the mountain forest life was barely seen as they hopped and ran about in the winter wonderland.

"Everything is so… white," Stacie said as she looked out the window, Cookie in her lap as she too, looked out in the scenery.

"Well, duh Stacie, it's snow!" Kristina told the girl.

Everyone laughed at the obvious scenery. Joy felt a buzz in her pants and started reaching into her pockets, pulling out her cell-phone. Looking at the screen, she sees that she received a text message. From Amy.

**Wat happened**

_Wat do u mean_

**In the bathroom**

_Nothing. Why_

**U were crying**

_Wat makes u say tat_

**U were red**

_Seriously??_

**Ya big time**

**I just didnt say nething**

_Oh well….I got a letter_

**From who?**

_Mom_

Ending her text conversation, Joy pocketed her phone away as well as Amy. Icy blue eyes followed her movements as she took an envelope out from her other pocket and tapping Amy's shoulder with it, she handed it to her best friend.

A normal person that was full of curiosity would be asking Joy what that certain letter was, but Zexion wasn't the kind of person to voice his own interests. The letter must have held some sort of significance, Zexion assumed. Once Amy had stared at the letter, she looked at it skeptically. Looking back at Joy, she asked, "Your mom?"

Joy gave her a small nod, leaning back in her seat and stared as Amy hesitated for a moment before opening the letter and reading the note. Riku next to Amy, noticed the letter in her hand and peeked over her shoulder to it, seeing the first few words, _'Dear Joy and Amy,'_ and presumed that this letter was from their mother. Riku looked to his girlfriend and noticed her facial expression changing in the twenty long seconds of her reading the letter; confusion, surprise, shock, and finally, an unreadable expression.

When Amy was done reading, she folded the letter back into the envelope - without noticing her boyfriend's gaze - and looked back to Joy. She had a look of wonder on her face, 'depressing wonder' Joy mused.

"Are you?"

Joy paused, hesitating before answering Amy's question, still facing forward. "I don't know. Whatever happens this week, I'll decide then."

Joy ceased the conversation and closed her eyes, folding her small hands across her lap. This position Amy knew to be Joy's thinking deeply mode. When Joy was like this, it was best not to bother her or else, face the consequences of her wrath. Amy knew from experience.

Roxas, who was pretending to be asleep, heard the discussion between Joy and her best friend. Pure curiosity took over him as he eavesdropped with his eyes closed. He was confused as to why Amy's question wasn't as obvious as it usually was. Joy's answer was also quite misleading. Opening his eyes just a crack, he saw Joy in her thinking pose. He knows Joy, and he knows that Joy usually does not take that position unless it was _really_ important. Roxas was confused; what's going on?

* * *

"We're _finally_ here!" Chives yelled into the bus. 

Everyone looked out the window and the newcomers all sat there, dumbstruck. This deluxe cabin was no ordinary one. No, it was an _enormous_ cabin with stairs and balconies, everything!

"This is where we're staying at??" Amy asked aloud.

"No, Amy," Larxene said to her sarcastically, "we're living at that dump over there."

Amy, being the gullible person she is, looked to where Larxene was talking about and saw a run-down house a little ways off. She widened her brown eyes and looked back to Larxene in fear, "Seriously?!"

"She's kidding, Amy," Riku told the gullible girl.

"Oh…" Amy sighed in relief and she heard giggling behind her. Turning around, she saw Joy laughing at her, "Be quiet, Joy. It's not my fault I'm so gullible."

"You know, it kinda is," Joy countered with a grin.

"Shuddap," Amy told the girl, huffing a bit.

"Well, if you two are done bickering, let's get out of this bus!" Axel exclaimed, and everyone agreed as they all piled out of the bus, thanking Chives on the way out.

Once Stacie had stepped off the bus, she looked to her temporary home again and shouted in amazement, "Oh my gosh, this place is huge!"

Thankfully, her loud outburst didn't create an avalanche.

* * *

_It's been two days since we got here on Mt. Radiant. The deluxe cabin is big, in my opinion. I'm rooming with Amy. There's a girl's hallway and a boy's hallway. Chives went back to town and will pick us up on the way back. So far, we've all stayed inside for the last two days, basically unpacking our stuff and getting used to the large cabin, if you would even call it that. It just seemed like a wooden mansion to me. Haha, yeahhh._

_Amy still has the letter and it's sitting on the desk right now. It's from my mother and even though the letter was addressed to the both of us, it was more toward me than Amy. My mom wants me to make this decision now, but I'm wondering which choice to choose._

_But, like I said, whatever happens this week will affect my decision._

_Ha, that's funny. The end of this week is Christmas Day. What a coincidence._

Joy was finally done with settling in, her clothes were in their respected drawers and closet. She looked toward Amy's bed which still had an open suitcase upon it, still completely full of clothing and such that have yet to be unpacked. Shaking her head at her best friend's laziness, she recalled that Amy was off with Riku in some part of the cabin, doing god-knows-what. She'd rather not know.

Suddenly, she heard her door open and she quickly turned around when she heard, "Knock knock!" It was the voice of Jun Tsu. She had a malicious grin on her face, a grin that made Joy feel a bit uneasy about.

"Do you need something from me?" Joy cautiously asked, standing near her bed in case she needed it after the conversation.

Jun closed the door as she entered the room and spoke in a low voice that would not be heard by other's ears outside the room, "We're going snowboarding and skiing."

"Oh," Joy responded, confused a bit as to why Jun would just want to come in and get her, "that's nice. When are we going?"

"We - as in me, everyone, and except you - are leaving in five minutes."

Joy immediately started frowning, "Oh…"

"Yeah," Jun continued, "you're not going. You want to know why?" Jun didn't even wait for Joy's answer, "Because you're going to be a distraction to Roxas. This is the perfect time for me and Roxas. I don't want some _loser_ just ruining it."

Joy stared at the girl across from her. No, there was a glare hidden in her violet eyes. She already cried from her 'bullying' two days ago, she wasn't about to cry again, especially in front of this _witch._ Joy disliked Jun a great deal, to the point where she hated her. But, Joy couldn't bring herself to hate this girl, even though she was _so_ evil. Joy didn't like to just hate people out of nowhere because of stupid reasons unless she saw their view first. Jun basically was jealous of Joy, she realizes that now. Joy _was_ wearing the necklace that originally belonged to Jun, and she tolerated the fact that Roxas only saw Jun within her. He only compared Joy to Jun and only saw Jun, and no matter how much it pained Joy, she accepted it.

Joy sighed dejectedly, "I didn't even want to go out today…"

"Good. That was a nice chat, we'll be going now." Before she left, she added, "No telling anyone!" And with that, the 'witch' left the room, leaving Joy to her thoughts. She plopped on her bed, Jun's last words ringing in her mind.

"_Good. That was a nice chat, we'll be going now."_

A minute later, Joy's eyes shot up open and she sat up straight. _'She was that girl!'_

"_Is that the girl he likes?" Amy asked her best friend._

_Joy looked to where Amy was looking toward and found Ricky with a raven haired girl. "Most likely."_

_Ricky and Jun were walking past them toward another group of friends and after awhile of them talking, the girl ceased their conversation with, "That's nice. We'll be on our way now," and she hooked her arm with Ricky's and they proceeded off to their destination._

'_Jun was the girl that Ricky was with! Oh my gosh! Why didn't Stacie or Kristina tell me?' _Joy thought urgently. She was about to go run out of the room when she thought that it didn't matter anymore. It wouldn't have made much a difference even if she did know that little detail. That explained why Jun knew guys had rejected Joy before.

Joy took a long intake of breath before letting it out. Is Joy ever going to find peace within her life?

* * *

Joy walked out into the cabin kitchen downstairs and found everyone dressed up and ready to go out in the snow. "Joy!" They all exclaimed as they saw the girl in her jeans, shirt, and socks. 

Kristina noticed Joy's attire and asked, "Aren't you coming with us, Joy?"

Joy took a quick glance toward Jun to find that she was busying herself with Roxas, and answered her friend, "No, I'm not going. I'm feeling a bit lazy today."

"Aw, but it won't be as fun if you're not there, Joy," Kristina tried to coax the girl.

"Sure it will, just go on without me," Joy assured her friend.

"If Joy's not going, then I'm staying." Amy declared as she proceeded to taking off her jacket and shoes.

"Amy, don't make me spoil your fun," Joy said, stopping Amy from taking off her footwear. "I'm fine, besides, Cookie will keep me company," grinning toward the cat that was sitting comfortable on top of the kitchen counter.

"I'll st--" Roxas started to say but was interrupted by Jun tugging on his arm.

"Roxas and I will go on ahead!" Jun announced as she attempted to drag Roxas with her outside the door, but Roxas was much stronger than her.

"Jun, stop it. I didn't even feel like going snowboarding today," Roxas retorted to his _ex_-girlfriend.

Roxas turned away from the girl right before she started steaming in anger. Joy saw the fury etched upon her face, especially since it was toward herself. To Jun, Roxas is being distracted from her again by Joy, that's how she looked at it. Joy didn't look at it that way, but said anyway, "No, it's alright. You guys go on ahead and have fun. I'll catch up later, how 'bout that?"

Everyone looked skeptically at each other before Hayner asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah!" Joy assured them with a smile, "Just tell me where ya'll are going."

"Here, I'll stay with shrimp so she won't get lost later," Larxene concluded. And she pointed at Joy who had opened her mouth to say something, "And don't argue with me." Joy quickly closed her mouth. Larxene took a seat on the couch and waited for anyone to object to her suggestion. No one did.

"Well, that's settled. Joy, Larxene, catch up with us later, the rest of us, time for some snow!" Demyx shouted, pumping a fist in the air. Everyone shouted in glee (except Zexion and Roxas, who still didn't feel like going) and started to exit the cabin.

As soon as everyone left, Larxene, Joy, and Cookie were the only ones in the cabin. Joy entered the kitchen that was connected to the living room, an open window in the wall that was in between, allowing access for conversation between the two rooms. "So, when were you planning to go snowboarding with us?"

Joy opened a cupboard and took out two hot chocolate mix packs, "To be honest, I wasn't exactly planning to even go."

Larxene came to the window and leaned against it as she continued to interrogate the girl, "And why, pre tell, is that?" Green eyes followed the shorter girl as she went back and forth in the kitchen from getting cups and other materials for the making of hot cocoa.

Joy didn't answer Larxene until she was working on the counter in front of the blonde girl. "…I don't know…"

"That's a lie," Larxene said.

Joy's gaze was on her hand, stirring the hot chocolate mix into the hot water as Larxene waited for her 'little sister' to finish. Instead, she got "Larxene, what do you think of Jun?"

A simple question. Joy's tone was just that of asking, and that's what made Larxene wonder about the question. Where was Joy getting at? "I don't like her. I never did." Blunt honesty.

Joy looked up from her stirring with widened eyes. She was surprised, "How come?"

"She's weird." Joy nearly dropped the cup in her hand from that statement. "Before she even looked at Roxas, I was alright with her, but once they started dating, she just started turning into a big flirt!" Larxene sighed in frustration, but stopped a moment to smell the aroma of Joy's hot chocolate. Joy had put a cup in front of Larxene as she went to put the spoon in the sink. "She really bugged me because she would usually ask for flirting tips and style tips."

"Really?" Joy asked astonished. She hadn't expected this from Jun. She thought everything she had on her was originally her ideas.

"Yeah. I tell her that highlights attract more attention because it stands out, and you know what she does, she comes back and there's highlights in her hair." Larxene shook her head in disapproval as Joy continued to listen, sipping at her own cup of hot cocoa. Cookie had gone back to her nap on the counter next to them. Joy nodded her little head, taking in Larxene's opinion of Jun when Larxene asked, "Why do you ask?"

Joy quickly answered, "No reason!"

That was too quick of an answer. Larxene looked at the violet eyed girl suspiciously before drinking her hot cocoa. Nothing else was said as they both drank their hot chocolate, and when they were finally done, Larxene told the girl, "Come on, we're going out there to snowboard whether you like it or not."

Joy widened her eyes and remembered Jun's words, "B-but, what if I don't want to??"

"Yes, you do," Larxene said, taking a hold of Joy's arms and pulling her upstairs. "I can see it in your eyes Joy, you want to go."

Joy sighed in defeat, she could never oppose Larxene. The taller girl smirked in victory. Something was going to happen today, good or bad, she can feel it.

* * *

The gang that went on first were on the ski lift at the moment. Kairi, Namine, Stacie, Olette, Selphie, Fernando, and Demyx were the ones going to ski; everyone else was snowboarding. To Roxas' relief, he was sitting with Hayner and Pence on the lift. Pence was the only one in the gang not skiing nor snowboarding for he was the one going to busy himself taking pictures of everyone else. 

"So, Roxas, how are things going between you and Joy?" Hayner asked out of nowhere as they were halfway up toward the top.

Roxas looked opposite from Hayner, replying, "I'd rather not talk about it."

"That bad, huh?" Pence asked the blonde boy.

Hayner shook his head at his best friend, "Seriously dude, Jun's been like all over you lately."

"You don't think I know that?" Roxas snapped. Of course he knew that! He'd be a bonehead if he didn't. (**A/N: He is though… xP)**

Pence noticed Roxas' tone and said, "What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know…" He replied lowly. He really didn't what to do.

Hayner patted his friend's back in a comforting way, making Roxas look at him, "Well, dude, if you don't do something soon, it might be too late."

"_I don't know. Whatever happens this week, I'll decide then."_

Roxas had a feeling he was running out of time. "…I'll talk to her later."

* * *

"So wait, why are we up here again?" Stacie asked as she stood in her skis, looking down at the mountain. Everyone was at the top of the mountain, besides Pence who went back down after taking a few quick shots.

Demyx saw the scared look on Stacie's face and asked the girl, "Wait, Stacie, do you even know _how_ to ski?"

"No! That's why I'm here!" Stacie exclaimed.

Everyone looked toward the girl. "Stacie!" They all shouted in unison.

"What?"

Demyx shook his head, "We're going **down** the mountain, and this isn't just some bunny slope; you need to be _at least _intermediate level to be up here!"

"Then why am I here?!" Stacie screamed, worried.

"Why _are_ you here, Stacie?" Jun asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, everyone was coming up here… no one told me anything!" Stacie exasperated.

Olette grabbed hold of Stacie's shoulders, "Stacie! I yelled out if everyone knew what they were doing!"

Stacie stared at the girl, "Really?"

"YES!" Everyone shouted.

"Well, I didn't hear," Stacie admitted, chuckling to herself, grinning innocently to the others.

Demyx sighed, "Come on, I'll bring you back down so I can teach you."

"Mmk." Stacie replied, following the boy back to the ski lift.

Kristina started nudging Fernando in the side while saying, "Woo! Go Stacie!"

"Senior, too!" Selphie exclaimed, joining in with Kristina.

"I know huh?" Kristina and Selphie laughed together as they watched Demyx and Stacie walk away together. Good thing they were out of earshot.

"I heard that you know!" Stacie exclaimed back at them.

Or not.

"Since we got that over with, everyone knows how to ski/snowboard here, right?" Axel asked, snowboard in his hand. Everyone nodded their head 'yes' and Axel continued, "Guys first!" The boys positioned their boards up first while the girls stayed back.

It was silent as everyone stared down the mountain.

_**PLOP.**_

Snow falling to the ground from the tree was the only signal they needed as the guys heaved forward and shredded Mt. Radiant. You can distinctly hear Axel and Sora scream out in excitement, "WOOOHOOOOO!!!"

"Wow, they sure are loud," Namine acknowledged as she stared at the boys with a smile.

Kristina scoffed, "I'm way louder." The girls laughed as they also went down after them.

* * *

**Twenty Minutes Later**

"Hey look, Joy and Larxene are finally here!" Kairi exclaimed to the others as she stood up from the snow and skied toward them. Both Larxene and Joy were carrying snowboards tucked under their arms.

The gang was all next to the ski lift, on the mountain where all the bunny slopes were at. Demyx was still off teaching Stacie how to ski, having a little difficulty doing so. Pence took a shot of Joy and Larxene with their snowboards and snow outfits, "The late people have arrived!"

"Joy! Joy! You're finally here!" Amy exclaimed to her friend as she approached.

Joy laughed at her friend's silliness and scratched the back of her head in apology, "Sorry for coming a bit late, would have gotten here sooner but I didn't know which snowboard to use."

"Well, looks like you choose the right one," Namine observed as she looked at the snowboard under Joy's arm. **(A/N: You can imagine how the snowboard would look.)**

"Where is everyone else?" Joy asked, noticing some people were missing.

"Oh, Roxas and Axel and them went to the top again," Selphie told them.

"Oh…I see." Joy saw Jun a little ways off, looking up the mountain, most likely waiting for Roxas to come back down so she can congratulate him on whatever.

Under normal circumstances, Joy would have been waiting, too right there just for Roxas, but Jun was in the picture. Joy couldn't have done this even if she tried. Shaking her head away from these thoughts, she looked toward the girls, "I will just be--"

"Fernando!"

Everyone turned their heads to the source and found that Kristina had snow on her face and was facing Fernando in mild shock. It looks like Fernando had just thrown a snowball in Kristina's face. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Kristina pushed Fernando and he fell backwards, off a cliff!

"**Fernando!"**

"kristina!" Joy shouted at her in shock.

"What? It was only a two-feet drop…" Kristina explained, pointing down where Fernando seemingly fell off.

The witnesses ran toward where Kristina was pointing and found that Fernando was fine, lying there in the snow, a glare plastered on his face.

"That's not two-feet Kristina, that's three-feet," Namine pointed out.

"…Oh, whatever," Kristina merely said.

Namine shook her head as she looked down at her boyfriend, "Are you okay, dear?"

Fernando merely just sat up and continued to glare at the girl who pushed him, "Kristina, you better start running."

Kristina, taking the threat, started running away while laughing with the others as Fernando ran around the mound of snow and after Kristina, Pence taking pictures of all this. As this event took place, Joy slowly disappeared, walking away from the group. It's not that Joy didn't like her friends anymore, quite the opposite. She loved all her friends to death (besides Jun) and felt happy to be with her friends to share the moments for. But this time, it just made her a bit depressed. Joy staggered away without anyone noticing and looked at the ground, the snowboard tucked tightly under arm. She just wanted to be alone for now.

_What should I do? I need to make the decision before Christmas! Should I or no? Okay, Joy look at all the pros and cons of each option. Okay, so if I decide yes then --_

"Watch out!"

Joy barely looked up when suddenly she was smashed down to the snow, **hard.**

"Oww…."

"…Sorry…" A low voice murmured in apology to her. Joy barely took knowledge that something, or more like _someone,_ was on top of her. And she could tell from the voice that it was a male.

As she opened her eyes, she looked up and fought the blush that was rising to her cheeks from the close proximity. He had dark brown eyes and black short hair. "It's alright… can you please get off me?"

"Right," he agreed, and that's when Joy noticed he had his snowboard still on his feet. She could tell he was having difficulty getting up.

"Here…" Joy wiggled out from under him, standing up and offered a hand to him. He took it after a second of staring at it and Joy, with a bit of trouble, heaved him up on his snowboard. He was only a little bit taller than herself.

"Thanks," he said with a bit of gratitude. "Sorry I crashed into you," he started, "I didn't see you in time to move out of the way."

"It's alright," Joy said forgivingly, resisting the urge to pat her own back to ease the ache, "I wasn't paying attention to what happened." Silence followed after that sentence as the Asian boy stared at his snowboard in embarrassment. "Um… I'm Joy," stretching her hand out to him, trying to lighten up the atmosphere.

He looked at her, shaking her hand up and down, he introduced himself, "I'm Cris."

"Cris?" Joy asked, making sure she got it right. He nodded silently. "Nice to meet you, Cris."

He nodded his head again in agreement and as their hands released the other, Joy heard a distant voice, "Cris!"

Joy turned around and found a girl about her height skiing toward them, "Are you okay, Cris?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Joy looked at the girl; also Asian with long black hair and brown eyes. "Hello," Joy greeted the girl.

"Hi!" She replied enthusiastically.

"Joy - Taffy. Taffy - Joy, she's my cousin," Cris introduced the girls. The two females shook hands with a greeting smile.

"Nice to meet you, Taffy," Joy said to the girl.

"You, too."

"You snowboard?" Cris asked the blue-green haired girl, noticing the snowboard that Joy had retrieved from the ground.

"A little, still a beginner," Joy replied, a little embarrassed thinking that Cris was a professional snowboarder. "How 'bout you? How long have you been snowboarding?"

"Only a year," he replied. "I rule the bunny slopes," he boasted with a confident smile.

"Yeah, that explains why you smashed into Joy here," Taffy countered him. Her cousin glared at her and she just put on a laughing smile. Joy laughed as well. She liked these two.

A little ways off, the boys finally went down the mountain on their snowboards; that's when Roxas noticed Joy with another guy and girl. "Is that Joy over there?" Roxas asked Pence.

Pence turned around and zoomed in with his camera, "Yup, that's Joy." Pence looked back at Roxas and saw his face, "Don't get too jealous now, Roxas."

Roxas ignored that last bit and continued staring, "Who she with?"

Out of the blue, Jun wrapped an arm around Roxas' and told the blonde boy, "She's with other people, leave her be. Come on Roxas, help me on my snowboarding technique."

Roxas did not want to leave Joy be. She was hanging out with another guy! First Ricky, then Zexion, and now some _stranger_?! She's even laughing with him! Roxas felt the anger, once again, rise up within him as he saw the guy and Joy laughing together and having fun with each other. Dark eyes watched Roxas' facial expression and glared daggers at the subject Roxas was staring toward. There was a slight growl in her mind; Jun was getting pissed.

Joy felt chills run throughout her body, hugging herself, she said, "Oh my gosh, I just got a chill right now."

"Come on, let's go to the café," Taffy offered. "We can drink hot cocoa and that'll warm you up!" She told the girl enthusiastically.

"They have the best cookies there, too," Cris informed Joy, already starting to walk toward the café with Taffy.

"Where?" Joy asked, and the cousins pointed toward the bottom of the mountain where a small café was built. Joy looked back toward her friends to find them still having fun in a snowball fight and nodded her head toward her _new_ friends in agreement. As the trio headed together toward the café, Joy text Amy.

_I'll be at the café down the mountain_

_I'm with some new friends_

_I'll catch up with you guys later_

Pocketing the phone back in her jacket pocket, she faced her friends and together they laughed the way to the café. Both her and Cris had their snowboards tucked under them as Taffy continued to ski slowly with them.

_Should I?_

* * *

_Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter; this was my present to you lovely readers: I'm working on chapter 17 right now so you all will be able to read it today, too. I'll try to finish it today, otherwise you'll read it tomorrow ! Love you all!!_

**I have changed one of my character's names from 'Kit' to 'Cris' because apparently, my friend that represented this character has refused to take this name. -- So, sorry for that little mix up.  
**

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

Reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _GRACIAS_! xD

**_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want **more** reviews _PLEASE_ ! xD_  
_


	18. Misunderstandings

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC and I still think I'm rushing the ending, but _**you **_be the judge of that

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, Fernando, Cris, and Taffy.

**Side Note**: Did you guys knows that my name is Joy ? Hehe xP Also, I formally had an OC's name to Kit, but my friend that represented that name disliked that name, so I have changed it to 'Cris'.

Thank you for the reviews everyone! ;D

* * *

_**Chapter Seventeen**_  
**Misunderstandings**

Biting into the chocolate chip cookie, Joy exclaimed while nodding her head in satisfactory, "This is really good!"

"See? I told ya!" Taffy said from next to her.

"You mean _I_ told her," Cris corrected his cousin.

"You know, he's right," Joy said to Taffy.

Taffy made a face toward Joy and the three of them laughed together, well mostly Joy and Taffy.

The three of them were at Luminous Café, enjoying some cookies and hot cocoa with whipped cream.

Luminous Café is a small café and even though it was freezing outside, it was fiery warm inside. The whole café was decorated with many holiday decorations. It was a bit crowded, but they were able to find a booth.

"Are you guys really hungry?" Taffy asked the two people at the table.

Cris shrugged his shoulders as he knew where this conversation was going while Joy looked at her, a little bit confused as she replied, "I guess…"

"Then let's get that Cookie Cake!" Taffy said in glee, already bouncing in her seat as she started raising her hand for a server to come by.

Joy looked across from her to Cris, and asked, "What's the Cookie Cake?"

"It's a cake…" The raven haired boy started, trailing off a bit.

Joy stared at him, "Uh-huh…?"

"That's a cookie."

Joy rolled her eyes at the boy, "Wow, that's was _sooo_ descriptive."

"I know."

Joy quickly muttered to herself, "Not."

Not quiet enough, Cris glared at the girl who merely laughed. Taffy finally finished ordering the cake to the server and turned back to the other table members. "Cris and I got the cake before, but we didn't finish it. We ended up with like half the cake last time."

Joy widened her eyes, "Is the cake really big or something?"

"No, it's because last time, we weren't as hungry and we thought," using hand gestures to continue explaining, "it was like the size of a regular cookie, so yeah."

"I see," Joy finally said after some silence. Changing the subject, she asked the cousins, "So, do you guys often come up here?"

"Yeah, we usually do," Taffy says. "We've been doing this since we were like twelve? I think…"

"How old are you guys now?" Joy asked out of curiosity.

"We're both sixteen."

"Seriously? Me too!" Joy shouted enthusiastically. _'Gosh, I'm such a dork.'_

"Anyway, my brother owns the store next to the ski lift," Cris explained.

"Really? That's cool," Joy said in surprise.

"What about you?" Taffy asked the violet eyed girl.

"Oh, me and my friends are on our Annual Snow Trip," Joy started, but corrected herself, "Well technically, this is my first time up here on Mt. Radiant. I just moved here a few months ago."

"Oh, where do you live?" Taffy continued to ask, sipping more of her hot cocoa.

"Twilight Town," Joy answered, wondering if either of the two had heard of that town.

Taffy started bouncing in her seat, "I know where that is! That's the town next to ours!"

"Really?" Joy responded, astonished.

"Yeah, ever been to 'Hollow Bastion'?" Cris asked this time.

Joy shook her head, "I'm still getting settled in my town, so yeah." Joy stuck out her tongue in slight shame.

"It's okay; we rarely go to Twilight anyway. I think we just go for the ice cream," Taffy said in a playful tone.

Joy grinned, "I_** love **_their ice cream!"

"Me too!" Taffy agreed enthusiastically, causing Joy and herself to laugh hysterically.

Cris stared at the two before getting a menu and putting it in front of his face, in attempt to make people think he did not know them. That's when a server came by, a medium-sized cake looking like a cookie, "Your Cookie Cake." Setting the treat on the table, the server followed with an "enjoy" and left the teenagers to _enjoy_ their dessert.

"Time to dig in!" Taffy exclaimed as she readied her fork.

* * *

"Hey, where's Joy?" Kristina asked to the others as everyone was sitting in the snow. 

"She's at some café," Amy informed her friend.

"Alone?" Namine inquired with a worried look.

Kairi raised an eyebrow, "How did she even know there's a café near here?"

"She made some new friends," Amy said calmly, as if it was nothing.

Roxas spoke in an emotionless tone, barely covering the bitterness hidden under, "So, she just left us." Remembering the guy that was talking to Joy earlier, he scowled for a second before returning to his emotionless expression. Jun was sitting next to him, feeling a bit bitter herself from the fact that her attempts are failing.

"Roxas," Olette started in a scolding tone, "you should know Joy doesn't do that. Even if she did, she wouldn't even know she did it."

"Besides, Joy doesn't like to say 'no' to an invitation, so they probably just invited her to go with them," Stacie said, defending her friend that was absent.

Roxas scoffed at their explanations and leaned back onto his hands, his eyes turned to the white fluffy blanket under him known as snow. He did not like the fact that Joy went off with some guy without at least telling the others where she was going, that she didn't tell _him_, her roommate, where she was going. The fact that _that_ guy had somehow convinced the girl to go with him to a café.

Luminous Café was known very well by the people who regularly came up to the mountains; it was the café where all the love happened in the winter on Mt. Radiant. Knowing this detail very vividly in his head, it angered him that Joy was there _without_ him.

"If you're so worried about Joy, Roxas," Selphie noticed Roxas' facial expression, broke the silence that had fallen over the group, concluding, "let's go into Luminous Café and see how she is." Standing up, she started heading toward the rental store to give back the skis she had been using.

"Wait, Selphie," Jun called out to the small girl, "let's stay out here and ski and snowboard a little more," she continued, hoping the others would reconsider and just stay outside instead of going to the café where Joy was at.

"I'm too tired of skiing," Stacie said, getting up as well, her skis in hand.

"Me too," Kristina agreed with Stacie and the both of them caught up with still-walking-away Selphie.

"Come on Fernando," Namine told her boyfriend, "I'm tired, too."

Also feeling a bit worn-out, Fernando permitted Namine to help him off as he said, "Let's catch up with them." Namine nodded her head at him and they both caught up with the three girls. Jun inwardly growled as everyone stood up and headed toward the rental store to return their skis and snowboards.

* * *

Pushing open the doors of the notorious Luminous Café, Amy hopped in and started her search. "Where is Joy?" She asked no one in particular, as she used her hand as a small telescope, searching every table in the restaurant for sea foam colored hair. 

"Let's just get some booths and then we'll find Joy," Zexion declared, walking over to some empty booths, "it's not that hard to find someone with her color hair."

"He's right, you know?" Demyx stated, following after the blue haired senior.

Everyone followed the two and split up into little groups, each claiming one booth next to one another. They failed to notice the girl that they were searching for was bent down, reaching under her table to retrieve her dropped fork.

"Cris," Joy grunted a bit as she straightened her posture, "the fork's right under you."

Cris gave her an annoyed gaze (which she just grinned sheepishly back at), mumbling that Joy should have noticed as she was about to bend down and get it, before reaching down to the floor and grabbing the used utensil. "Here," he muttered, handing her the fork.

"Thank you," she said and waited for a server to come by to ask for another fork, the Cookie Cake still three quarters left.

"Ask for milk, too," Taffy told Joy, who nodded back at her and continued to seek for an available server.

Back with the Twilight High group, each person got their little menus - including Jun - and the majority of the group already knew what they wanted, setting their menus aside. Fernando had placed his menu back onto the table and was about to join the conversation between Kristina and Stacie when he noticed blue green at the corner of his eye. Turning his head to the familiar color, he saw Joy with two other people, Asians to be exact.

Fernando widened his eyes a bit and he started tapping Stacie's shoulder repeatedly, still facing Joy's booth. "Ow - ow! What?!" Stacie snapped, annoyed with being poked.

Fernando ended his tapping and said, "I found Joy."

"Where?" Amy quickly turned her head in the direction where her friend was looking and spotted Joy's hair; she stuck out like a sore thumb! Amy, at that moment, wonders why she couldn't see her before…

"Over there," Fernando pointed toward Joy, showing where she was to Stacie and Kristina.

"Hmm…" Stacie murmured, "Those two look familiar…"

"Who? The people Joy's with?" Amy asked.

"Yeah… Don't they look like Cris and Taffy from middle school?" Kristina questioned her friends.

"I think that _is_ Cris and Taffy!" Fernando confirmed.

Amy started bouncing in her seat, also remembering the two cousins, "Let's go say hi to them!"

The four teenagers left their booth and hurried toward Joy and her new friends.

"Where are they going?" Pence asked. The others looked confused as they watched them - and _heard_ them - as they greeted Joy's group.

"Cris! Taffy!" Stacie yelled in excitement.

The two cousins turned their heads, and Joy, to the source of the yell and found Stacie, Amy, Kristina, and Fernando running to them. Taffy was the first to react and quickly stood up before being bombarded with a bone-crushing hug. "Kristina - can't - breathe!"

"No, I refuse to let go!" Kristina joked, continuing to hug the poor girl.

"Kristina!" Amy tried to get her friend's attention while prying her off Taffy.

Kristina turned to grin at Amy when she spotted Cris and quickly exclaimed, "Cris! Give me a hug!" Cris widened his eyes in alarm before scooting farther away into his seat, causing Kristina to be more persistent. "No Cris! Come here!" Kristina plopped herself on the seat next to him and wrapped her arms around the boy, including his arms, bringing him into a huge 'loving' bear hug.

As the teenagers greeted each other, Joy was just sitting there with a confused expression on her face. "You guys know each other?"

"Yeah. We all met each other at middle school," Fernando explained to the bemused girl.

Joy nodded her head in understanding, "Oh, well that makes sense. I didn't meet any of you until the ninth grade," looking at Taffy and Cris, "besides you two."

Amy nodded to her before turning to Taffy and Cris, "How come you didn't tell us you guys were moving to Destiny Islands?!"

Taffy responded with a timid tone, "We didn't know we were moving here…"

Cris also said, "Remember? We told you guys that our parents just said that we were moving."

Realizing this, Amy replied, "Oh yeah!" Everyone laughed at the raven-haired girl's seemingly short-term memory loss. **(A/N: She doesn't really have it.)**

Amy, Fernando, Kristina, and Stacie stayed with Joy and the cousins, catching up with them, before retreating back to their other group. The trio had a quarter of a cake still to go before they decided to leave.

"How long are you guys staying here?" Joy inquired as she took another bite out of the cake.

"We're leaving in a month," Cris answered also taking another bite.

"Really?" Joy asked astonished, "That's a long time."

"Well, that's what you get when you have a family member that owns a store here," Taffy told the girl, "Gotta wait until business dies down."

"Oh, well, where are you guys going after this?" Joy asked, hoping they didn't have to go anywhere after they finished eating at the café.

"No where really, we hav'ta wait for Cris' brother and then we're going back to our own cabin," Taffy continued to explain.

"Why don't you guys come back to our cabin and we'll have a blast," Joy suggested, she knew Kairi and Namine wouldn't mind too much. Joy looked over at her other group of friends, arguing and playing around with each other. She tried to look at their table without seeing Roxas, but subconsciously, she found herself looking for the blonde boy. When her eyes finally landed on him, he was staring back at her, an emotionless expression written on his face. She quickly waved to him shyly before turning back to Cris and Taffy, "I'm sure my friends won't mind. Besides, I bet Amy and them would love to catch up with you two."

* * *

_**We're on the fourth day of the Annual Snow trip, and so far, I haven't enjoyed it one bit.**_

_**I still haven't told Joy anything yet; she's always with that Cris guy. The gang is becoming angry with me because I'm not patching things up with Joy. Is it my fault really, that she wants to spend all her god damn time with **_him_**?! I can never get her to be alone. **_

_**Three days until Christmas and that's when Joy makes her decision, whatever decision that is.**_

_**This really pisses me off. Joy needs to make some kind of decision that she's not even telling me about, and I thought she told me everything; but I find out she's bottling a lot of things within her! Does she really not trust me? Does she not care about how I feel? Does she even know how I feel?**_

_**Just because I didn't tell her anything about Jun or about my past with her, does that really count for anything? That was my past for Christ's sake! That was the part of me that I wanted to leave behind.**_

_**So, then why'd I give her the necklace?**_

_**..I already know the answer…**_

_**Because I entrusted her with it. I expected her to trust me as much as I trusted her, for her to understand how I felt. I expected her to treasure that necklace, unlike Jun had done. Jun had just put it on for a day and left it in her dorm after that, saying it was kept there for safe keeping. But Joy, since I gave it to her, she had always been wearing it, every second, of every minute, of every hour, of every day since I gave it to her. But, these last two days, I did not see any sparkle of gold hanging from her neck, and saw no long glittery chain wrapped around her neck, I did not see the locket hanging right there on her collarbone. That crushed me like you wouldn't believe.**_

_**Where was it now? Why isn't she wearing it?**_

_**I didn't understand. But I knew I had to talk to her before it was too late.**_

_**Joy is spending time with that **_**Cris**_** guy way too much for my liking, and if I don't do something about it soon, I swear I'm going to explode and kill someone. **__(A/N: I think we all know who he wants to kill cough cough Cris cough cough xD)_

"Hayner," Roxas called out to the dirty blonde lounging around on the couch, "Where's Joy?"

Hayner stood up from his laid down position in alert, "You're going to _finally_ talk to her?!"

Roxas slightly glared at Hayner before turning his head, "_**Yes**_ Hayner, I am."

"She's in her room."

"Anyone else?" Roxas asked, turning around to the girls' hallway while stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"That I am not aware of," Hayner started, but hearing the annoyed groan from Roxas, he continued, "but Taffy and Cris aren't here yet, so that should give you some time."

Roxas acknowledged Hayner and asked one more question, but this time in a lower voice, "Do you know where Jun is?"

"Can't answer that one either," Hayner replied, lying back down.

"Jun's on the other side of the house," Olette said to him, from the kitchen window, sipping some hot chocolate. There was another steaming cup next to her on the ledge which Hayner stood up and took. "She's with Stacie and them in the computer room; you have roughly five minutes to explain everything. You better hurry or she'll coming barging in when she finds out you're in there."

"Thanks," Roxas said as he nodded at the two and sauntered toward the girls' hallway.

Olette and Hayner watched as Roxas walked off to Joy's room. "I hope Amy isn't in there," Olette said as Roxas disappeared from sight.

"She probably isn't. She's most likely in Riku's room, playing video games with him or something," Hayner responded, taking another gulp of his chocolatey drink.

Olette stayed silent for a moment, staring into the depths of her hot chocolate, deeply in thought. Hayner noticed Olette's silence and waited for her to tell him what was on her mind like she usually did. "Do you think Roxas knows what he's going to say?"

"Nope," Hayner replied bluntly.

"I thought so," Olette voiced, rubbing her thumb across her cup in thought.

The dirty blonde noticed the brunette's gesture and set down his cup of hot cocoa. Leaving the window and walking into the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around Olette's waist and pulled her toward him, "Hey, they're both strong. They'll get through this."

Olette leaned against the boy as she said, "I hope so." Leaning against the boy, she felt content. This was a side of Hayner that she and only she knew about, the caring side of Hayner Haruha. She felt Hayner rest his head on her shoulder, kissing her cheek. Olette smiled at the gesture, "You know the gang is going to find out about us if we keep risking doing stuff like this."

"Like me?" Pence asked, appearing out of nowhere with a camera in his hand. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Pence had known about Hayner and Olette's secret relationship since the day before they left for the mountains. He had found them with their heads close together in the park, their arms wrapped around each other.

"Yes, like you, Pence," Hayner said, a bit aggravated as he let go of his _secret_ girlfriend.

"Of all people to be walking in the park at that time, it had to be you, Pence," Olette said as Pence approached the couple, still grinning.

"Well, you know, I'm always there when you least expect it."

* * *

"Hey Cookie, get off that shirt," Joy commanded to the kitten, pulling the shirt out from under the feline. Cookie 'meow'-ed at her master as she jumped off to her own bed. 

"Hey, what time is Cris and Taffy coming?" Amy asked to Joy.

"I don't know. I'm not even sure if they're coming today; remember they said that they might have to help out at the store?" Joy replied, putting another folded shirt of Amy's into a drawer.

"Ah, I see." Amy said, returning back to stacking up her clothes on her bed.

_**KNOCK KNOCK**_

"Go get the door," Joy ordered to her best friend playfully, as she pointed dramatically at their door.

Amy bowed like a servant and said in an obedient tone, "Yes _mistress._" They both laughed as Amy jumped over Joy's bed and walked toward the door, opening it, "Hello, Roxas."

Joy stopped in the middle of her folding at the mention of his name. She hadn't really spoken to the boy lately, hanging out with the others and also being a bit afraid to talk to the blonde because of Jun. Violet eyes swerved to the nightstand between the two beds and saw the golden locket sitting there.

In a low voice, Roxas whispered to Amy, "I need to talk to Joy."

Amy caught the hint and opened the door wider, "Better make it worth her time." Letting the boy in, she noticed how Joy stared down at the clothes and continued to fold and stack as Roxas stood there, waiting for the raven-haired girl to leave the room. "Hey Joy, I'll be right back. I'm going to Riku's room." And before Joy could protest, Amy had already left, closing the door behind her.

There was an awkward silence that followed as the door shut.

_**Cricket-cricket-cricket.**_

"So, what's up?" Joy asked, trying to strike up a conversation. "What brings you here to the girls' hallway?"

She heard Roxas sigh and looked up at him. He was staring at the golden locket sitting on the nightstand before staring hard at it. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"About what happened near the library that day."

Joy stiffened as she remembered what happened that day. The day where Roxas stabbed her heart. "What's there to talk about?"

"Joy…" Roxas started, moving closer toward the girl, "What I said that day…"

"_**Tch. Like **_I_** would really end up with her." **_

"I didn't mean that I would never--"

"It's okay, Roxas," Joy said, looking up at him, "I understand."

Before he could stop himself, he found himself raising his voice at the girl, "No you don't!" Roxas couldn't control the words that were coming out of his mouth, "You don't understand, Joy."

"Yes, I do!" Joy told him, raising her voice, "There was only one meaning to what you said, Roxas. And that was that you would never choose a girl like me. It's alright, I can understand that. Jun is a _great_ girl, and you were with her before, so why wouldn't you like to get back together with her again?" Joy, in all her life of knowing him, had never yelled at Roxas as she was doing to him now. She couldn't help it though, the built up anger and sorrow within her just wanted to be freed, "It's not like I ever mattered, huh? It's all about Jun. It always was."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Roxas shouted back at her, enraged, "What I meant back then was that _you_ would never choose a guy like _me_. I never even said anything about Jun!"

"But you were always hanging out with her! It was obvious that there was something still between you two! How can I not think what I think?!" Joy yelled back, feeling tears come to sadden violet eyes.

"This has nothing to even do with Jun! This is between you and me, and what happened that day. I know you can choose from any guy you want, so it never made sense to me for you to choose someone like me." Roxas shook his head in exasperation, "I'm sorry if my words hurt you, but you know what, I guess I was right; you would never choose a guy like me." Turning around, back turned to Joy as she just stood there in surprise as he continued, "You have guys like Cris or Zexion to choose from."

Joy stared at the boy across from her, her breathing ragged, "Roxas…" Taking in a breath to calm her breathing, "That's not true..."

"How can _I_ not think that?" Roxas mocked back. Barely turning to face her, voice still raised in frustration, fists clenched tightly in anger, "You and Zexion were freakin' flirting with each other on the bus, and now you're hanging out with Cris! For all I know, you could be flirting with that Asian prick, too!" Roxas stared intently at Joy with a look of pain, "You don't even talk to me anymore." **(A/N: I am not insulting Asians, 'cause I myself am one. Sorry to any Asians out there that felt offended at that comment.)**

"Can you really blame me?!" Joy was now yelling, screaming at the boy, her face flushed in rage, "You were always with Jun every single second of the day!"

"What does that have to do with anything? You can still talk to me! It's not like Jun owns me," Roxas retorted bitterly from the mention of Jun.

Joy shook her own head at Roxas' clueless expression; she wasn't suppose to talk about the 'meetings' between her and Jun, and no doubt, Jun wouldn't say anything either. "You're probably deciding to be with Jun for the rest of your life."

"Who the hell gave you that idea?!" Roxas demanded. At this point, he knew that both their voices would reach the ears beyond this room.

"After I found out who that locket really belongs to," Joy countered back as she stalked toward her nightstand and grabbing the necklace. Facing back to Roxas, she held out the necklace to his face, "I think you should give this to its rightful owner."

Roxas stared at Joy before pushing her hand holding the necklace toward her, "I already did."

Joy glared at him as he stood there, misunderstanding what she had just said, "Doesn't_ this_ belong to Jun?"

"It _did_. But now it belongs to _you._" Roxas said as he pointed at her.

Joy was baffled at this. Was it really for her? Or was he just doing this so he can win her over and try to replace Jun with her? This thought enraged Joy even more, if that were even possible. Joy was not a _replacement_, she was her own person. A person that should be treated like one of a kind. Never before had she been through any of this, and now she wasn't going to just stand around and accept everything. She can accept many things, but to forget something this harsh? That's something a normal person cannot do.

Joy intently glared at Roxas which gave him an uncomfortable feeling, he had never seen her with that stare, "I don't want it."

Roxas stared at her in surprise, "What?"

Joy roughly grabbed his hand and slammed the golden locket onto his palm, "I. Don't. Want. It."

Roxas winced at the sudden pain in his hand, but that wasn't the only ache he felt. Once she had said that, it felt like his whole heart just gave out. Pure shock was etched onto his face and all he could do was stand there flabbergasted at the girl in front of him, "What--"

"_That_ necklace is like a symbol to me, representing that I just replace Jun in your heart. I am **not** a replacement, I am me." Joy voiced to him. Poking him hard in the chest, she added, "Don't compare me to someone like Jun. So take the necklace, rip out the pictures and burn it for all I care!" Joy yelled at him, feeling the tears now starting to well up in her eyes.

Roxas continued to stand there as she yelled at him. What she had said, was basically true. He had always been comparing her to Jun, but he didn't think of it that way. Roxas growled inwardly in irritation. Why was this girl so difficult?! "I'm not using you as a replacement."

Joy scoffed at him, the glare still plastered on her face, "Don't lie."

"I'm not lying!" Roxas said to her in a final tone, "Sure, I compared you to her, but it was never meant for you to replace her."

"So you _did_ compare me to her." Joy said to herself as she crossed her arms at him.

"Damn it, Joy!" Roxas cursed as he ran agitated hands through his blond hair, "Why don't you understand?!"

"_I_ don't understand?! It's _you_ that doesn't understand!" She yelled back at him, pointing at him for emphasis, "These past three months, I had always been there for you, always been with you, and yet those moments of our time together meant nothing to you?! Why can't you understand that I love you!?"

_I love you_

Those three words left her mouth before she even knew what she was saying. But she didn't take it back. It was like her conscience was intent on letting out the truth, and she didn't deny it. She wasn't going to lie to herself about her feelings anymore. His blue eyes fixed onto her violet ones as he stood there stunned at her outburst. "…What did…you just say?"

Joy looked away, her cheeks reddening from embarrassment, "I'm not repeating it."

_Never put a period after 'I Love You' because it means the love has ended._

Before Roxas could muse more on this quote, he heard Joy say acrimoniously, "Those words don't even mean anything to you, do they?" Roxas opened his mouth to deny it, but Joy still went on, "Jun's the only one for you, right? That's the reason why you gave her that locket in the first place. I bet you told her it represented 'love' or something while you told me it represented our friendship. I knew you only thought of us as friends, every guy does," Joy finishes sullenly. A tear slid down her face, past her left cheek that was flushed from anger and embarrassment. "You don't love me back, right--"

Joy was cut off from saying whatever she was saying when she felt something grab both of her arms, and before she could even understand what was happening, she felt pressure on her lips as they were captured by another pair and she was staring in shock into Roxas' now tightly closed eyes.

* * *

_I think I rushed the ending, dont'cha think? ;D Hehe, left you all hanging! Hehehehehehe... Didn't expect the two to get into a fight, huh? You know, I had a reallllyyyyy hard time writing the fight scene, so bear with it if it's a bit rough. Also, I know I rushed the whole chapter, skipping from day to day so fast, and I sincerely apologize for that. Trying to please you guys with the timing as well as myself in writing, so once again, sincerely apologize if it sounds kind of rushed. Happy New Year's everyone and hope you do well on your resolutions! _xD_  
_

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Reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _GRACIAS_! xD

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	19. Eyeopening Deception

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC rushing at the ending xP but _**you **_be the judge of that

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, Fernando, Cris, and Taffy.

Thank you for the reviews everyone! ;D_**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Eighteen**_  
**Eye-Opening Deception**

"_Yes, I do!"_

The voice of Joy scarcely reached the ears of the teens in the nearby kitchen, making them turn their heads in alarm.

"Was that Joy?" Olette asked, a concerned look spreading over her face.

"That was_ definitely_ Joy," Hayner replied, taking a step toward the girls' hallway on instinct.

"Joy's yelling? Since when does Joy yell??" Pence asked in disbelief, not waiting for an answer from anyone. He had never the hyper girl yell unless it was to call out to someone. She was never heard raising her voice for any reason when arguing; she always kept the same volume level.

Hayner sighed in worry, "Apparently since Roxas went in there." He was right; Roxas didn't know what he was saying.

Pence turned to Hayner in question, "Roxas went in there?"

"Yeah, Roxas wanted to talk to--"

"SHH!" Olette exclaimed, shushing the boys; apparently, she was trying to hear what was going on between Roxas and Joy. They heard more yelling coming from the girls' hallway before another deep voice was heard, cursing words reaching their ears.

_Roxas._

They knew Roxas was the only one out of the two to actually swear. Joy never swore in her life, except the exception of 'holy crap,' and she used that so rarely, she was considered too much of a goodie-two-shoes.

The three teenagers looked at each other in apprehension, before nodding to one another and tip-toeing to the girls' hall. The voices within Joy's room grew louder in volume and as Olette, Hayner, and Pence turned the corner, they had already found six people in front of Joy's door, their ears pressed against it. Zexion was leaning against the wall opposite from the door, his eyes closed as he could clearly hear the argument residing in the bedroom. Demyx and Axel waved to the approaching teens, motioning for them to come over and stay quiet. Larxene gave them an unreadable expression before turning back to the door. Amy and Riku, who seemed to be the first people to have heard the fight being right in front of the door, were crouched next to the door, ears pressed against the door.

"_This has nothing to even do with Jun!" _Roxas' raised voice reached the teens beyond the door.

The guys of the group knew that voice. Roxas only used that voice when he was really frustrated, and when he didn't know what he was doing. And on top of that, he cursed, _loudly_. Never before had he used that voice on any girl; none of them expecting Joy to be the first. The guys mentally slapped their foreheads at Roxas; what is going on in that head of his?

All teens present in the hall looked at each other anxiously, as they continued to eavesdrop on the argument.

* * *

"Okay, everyone's name is in the hats?" Kairi asked, standing up from Selphie's bed. 

"Yup," Selphie answered, shaking each of the five black hats in front of her, mixing up the strips of paper within the caps, "all here and accounted for."

"So, everyone's going to have about--" Kairi started to say, but was interrupted by a loud voice heard from a room down the hall.

"_Can you really blame me?! You were always with Jun every single second of the day!"_

"_What does that have to do with anything? You can still talk to me!"_

Selphie turned to her red-headed friend with an incredulous look, "Was that Joy and Roxas?"

"Y-yeah…" Kairi replied, a bit uncertainly. She had never heard Joy yell before, knowing her to be a kind, quiet, hyper girl. "It seems like they're working it out…" Selphie gave her a skeptical look.

More yelling echoed through the hall.

The opening of the door and running footsteps was the only thing heard before Selphie's room was completely empty.

* * *

"No, no, no! Turn left! _Left_!" Stacie shouted at the television desperately, maneuvering herself to turn left or right when needed, as if hoping it would make some difference to the race-car game. "No, wait! Right, _right_!! 

"Oh yeah! I'm going to win!!" Sora exclaimed, jumping up from his seat on the couch in the game room, vigorously pressing buttons on his controller.

"Not if I get there first!" Kristina said, to the boy, also robustly pushing down on the buttons on her controller to make her car accelerate even faster.

"This is so childish," Marluxia muttered from next to his girlfriend, his head resting on his propped hand. He seemed a bit out of place in the game room without his senior friends.

"Yeah, but it's funny," Fernando responded, urging whoever he wanted to win _to win_.

On the computer nearby was Fernando's blonde girlfriend and standing next to her was Jun. "See Jun? I told you Kelly Clarkson sang this song, not Celine Dion."

Jun flipped her hair in an uncaring matter, trying to hide the fact that she was embarrassed that she was wrong, "Oh well, like it matters."

A small melody was heard and Namine reacted by reaching into her pocket and pulling out her white cell phone; she had just received a text message. Flipping open her phone, she glanced at the screen when she heard Jun say, "I'm going to find Roxas. It's probably almost time for the Secret Santa thing, right--"

"No! No! No!_**TURN**_!!" Jun and Namine looked toward the commotion to find that Stacie was turning her body and twisting about with her controller, frantically driving her racecar past obstacles, but failing every now and then to miss the mountain.

After a few moments, another shout was heard. "Oh yeah! I won!" Sora exclaimed, jumping up and down doing a happy dance.

"You only won because I let you," Kristina condescendingly said to him, trying to stop the enthusiastic boy from doing his victory dance.

"Yeah right, Kristina," Fernando said to his friend, "You would've lost either way."

"Oh, shut up, Fernando, like you could do any better," Kristina retorted back to him.

A dangerous glint appeared in Fernando's eyes before he said, "Don't make me hurt you."

"I have Marluxia to protect me," Kristina countered, hugging her boyfriend tightly, no reaction from the boy whatsoever.

Seeing Marluxia's non-reaction, Stacie looked at her raven-haired friend and spoke in a sarcastic tone, "Yeah, Marluxia is _totally_ going to protect you."

Suddenly stopping his winning dancing, Sora pointed at Jun ardently, "I challenge you, Jun Tsu, to a rematch!" Remembering his match earlier with the girl and losing terribly, his eyes flashed fire in a determining way. Jun was about to decline when Sora said, "Unless you're chicken?" Imitating a chicken, he mocked at Jun as everyone tried to coax the girl to stay and play the game with them.

"Since when did you ever back down from a challenge, Jun?" Namine asked the other girl innocently.

True.

Jun was never one to back down from a challenge, especially one that she would win hands-down. Her rosy lips twitched up into a smirk before taking a seat onto the couch, "Ready to lose _again_, Sora?"

"Not a chance!" Sora confidently said to her.

As Jun took the controller from Stacie, Namine let out an inaudible sigh and pocketed back her cell phone. If Namine wasn't listening to the others shout and cheer on the players or if the volume of the game that the others were playing was lowered, Namine would have heard a distant female voice ring around the cabin.

"_--take the necklace, rip out the pictures and burn it for all I care!"_

* * *

"_So you _did_ compare me to her."_

"What happened?" Selphie whispered to the other eavesdroppers, not hearing any voices within the bedroom at the moment. It had suddenly gotten all quiet.

No one answered the brunette's question. They heard Joy's ragged breathing from yelling and shouting so much and that's when they heard it.

"_Damn it, Joy! Why don't you understand?!"_

"I _don't understand?! It's _you _that doesn't understand! These past three months, I had always been there for you, always been with you, and yet those moments of our time together meant nothing to you?! Why can't you understand that I love you!?" _

Amy and Olette gasped softly as everyone widened their eyes in utter shock. Joy had finally stopped lying to herself and confessed her feelings for the blonde boy. The teenagers awed in respect for the short girl as she finally gave in to her feelings and spoke the truth, or in this case,_shouted_. Everyone leaned in closer to the door, struggling to hear Roxas' response.

"…_What did…you just say?" _Was Roxas' very faint reply.

"Yes, _please_, repeat what you just said, Joy," Demyx cried out quietly, trying to hear the conversation. He had not clearly heard what Joy had said a second ago, but he could already guess.

"_I'm not repeating it." _

More talking, mainly Joy's voice, and everyone listened in, striving to hear with their opened ears as Joy's voice went softer and softer. She was no longer yelling, but telling in a sad tone. _"I knew you only thought of us as friends, every guy does." _Amy, feeling sympathy for her best friend, her expression dropped a bit from its scrunched up pose. Amy felt a hand on her shoulder and found that Riku was silently comforting her, his facial expression telling the girl to have faith in her best friend's words. Amy nodded at him before they both turned back to the door.

Suddenly, the eavesdroppers' ears were met with silence, again. First, Joy started talking, softer this time, then heard nothing. It was completely quiet as Amy and Riku strained their ears for any movement, sound or noise inside the bedroom.

Riku's eyes were furrowed together as he tried to predict what had happened inside. Joy had just been abruptly cut off after saying, _"You don't love me back, right--" _Putting two and two together - knowing Joy had just expressed her feelings and knowing Roxas shared the same feeling - he announced, "Roxas just kissed her."

"Really?" Kairi exclaimed, amazed. "How can you tell?"

Amy unconsciously smiled, knowing this was a very special kiss to Joy; her very first kiss.

* * *

Joy's first kiss. 

It was just that: a kiss; a real and rough one. This kiss wasn't the kind that swept Joy off her feet that she had always expected the first kiss to feel, or the kind of kiss when shy lips brushed against one another to show affection. No, this was _way_ past that. This kiss was a charged and rough one, almost as if he was desperate; and yet, even if this kiss was gentle, the kiss sent tingles down her spine and took her breath away all the same.

Roxas didn't know what had overcome him, but he wanted Joy to know that he did feel the same way, that he had the same feelings for the girl. No matter what anyone said, or what anyone _did _(-ahem- Jun), he shared these feelings and emotions with her. Roxas wanted to show Joy that she was wrong, that he did care and that all those moments of them being together _did_ mean something to him. He poured everything in his being into that one - rough - kiss. He didn't mean for it to be so forceful, but he wanted to shut Joy up from finishing her sentence, because she didn't understand. He didn't understand at first either, but he wanted to let her know that she had always been in his heart.

The golden locket had fallen onto the floor, out of Roxas' grasp as he slid his hands up Joy's arms gently, sending shivers throughout her body as it relaxed to the kiss. The necklace fell to the floor, as well as their friendship, but what happens next?

The blonde boy slowly pulled away, opening his eyes just a crack to peek at the girl's expression. He chuckled inwardly at Joy's dazed expression, her lips parted from the kiss. She looked so small, fragile that it made him move his hands upward to the sides of her face, holding her, caressing her cheeks. Smiling, he reeled back in, tasting the girl's lips again in a softer, sweeter kiss.

Joy wasn't exactly sure if she was kissing back or not, but she absent-mindedly moved her hands to his chest, steadying herself from the sudden dizziness, making her feel a bit light. She felt as if she were on a white, puffy cloud. If the first kiss sent tingles down her spine, the second kiss led her into pure bliss as it became more passionate and loving; her face flushed even more than it already was as she felt Roxas lightly pressing his body against hers.

"I - have - always - loved - you," Roxas said to her mellifluously in between kisses, each one being better than the last. With one final kiss, he spoke in the same tone, moving a few strands of her sea foam hair behind her ear affectionately, "Why can't _you_ understand that?" His ocean blue eyes gazed into her still dazed violet eyes, as if he was hypnotizing her. He felt his own cheeks turn red as the girl before him continued to stare at him through half-lidded eyes and quivering pink lips, practically begging for more.

Joy's knees turned into jello and could feel her face grow hot as he mocked her with her own words. Even though she's been waiting for three months from _him_ to share these feelings with her, she's been waiting all her life to hear those three simple words. And she knew that if Roxas hadn't moved his arms to around her waist, she would've collapsed - possibly fainted.

* * *

A loud knock on the front cabin door echoed throughout the seemingly quiet cabin. "That must be Cris and Taffy," Olette whispered, letting out a breath that she didn't know she was holding. Straightening her composure, she quickly walked off to the front room before announcing loudly so the cabin would hear where she was, acting as if she was there the whole time, "I'll get it!" 

Hastily getting up, Hayner, Kairi, and Selphie followed after the brunette as she opened the door to reveal the grinning faces of Taffy and Cris. "We're ready to help decorate!" Taffy exclaimed, stepping into the toasty warm cabin, Cris walking in as well.

Cris looked around the room and arched an eyebrow, "Where is everyone?"

"Doing random stuff around the cabin," Hayner exasperated while breathing a bit heavily, grinning at the Asian boy.

Olette closed the door once the two were inside and yelled out, almost urgently, "Time to decorate!"

* * *

Hearing the front door of the cabin open and close, Joy said to the boy still holding her, "Cris and Taffy are here…" 

"_Time to decorate!" _Olette's voice rang around the cabin.

Chuckling a bit, Joy added, "And it's time to start decorating the house."

"_Cabin_," Roxas corrected while grinning at her, keeping his hold around the girl.

"Cabin, whatever," Joy replied back, sticking her tongue out at him; she still felt the blush on her cheeks, remembering the event that had just occurred only moments ago; she could still feel her heart beating against her chest rapidly. The feeling came back to her legs as she stood up straighter, not making any difference in her height compared to Roxas who was still three inches taller than her, and she started pushing lightly against his chest, "You can let go anytime now."

Roxas smirked at the girl in his arms, pulling her closer, "Now why would I do that?" Seeing the blush deepen on her face, Roxas chuckled at her.

Lightly slapping him on the face, she said, "Because if you don't, at some point, Amy's going to come in here and see us like this."

Roxas once again, smirked at the girl and leaned toward her ear, his hot breath tickling her neck, "Nice kiss; you sure you haven't kissed anyone before?" Roxas knew full well that he had claimed Joy's first kiss, and he imprinted that detail within his head.

* * *

"Come on, Joy and Roxas might come out any minute now," Demyx urged the others quietly as he and Zexion left the hall toward the front room. 

"_Nice kiss; you sure you haven't kissed anyone before?"_

"O.M.G!" Amy exclaimed softly, pressing her ear forcefully into the door, hearing what Roxas had just said.

"What?" Larxene pushed Riku out of the way and tried to lean in more, trying to hear what Amy was becoming excited over.

Seeing her boyfriend get pushed away, Amy became angered and separated from the door, "Hey, don't just push him like that!"

"Shut up, shortie," Larxene retorted, getting next to the door.

"Wait! I wanna hear!" Axel complained, rushing to the door.

Ironically, Axel tripped onto the rug in front of the door and slammed right into the door.

* * *

Joy's heart quickened its pace as she watched Roxas lean in ever so close to her face yet again, merely inches away from her lips. The blush deepening, she leaned in as well, wanting to kiss the boy she loved once more. 

_**SLAM !**_

"Ow!" A voice was heard and suddenly, the door knob was turned and burst open, shocking the two teens as they separated, watching a dog pile appear at the doorway. Amy's hand was the one that had turned the doorknob, Larxene was next to her leaning against the door, Riku behind them while Axel was on Amy's other side fallen face first.

"So, um…" Amy started to say, looking anywhere but at the couple in front of her, "What's up?"

"Are we interrupting something?" Riku slyly said, smirking at the blushing teens.

"No, not exactly," Joy replied awkwardly, looking up at the ceiling innocently. She quickly rushed off, grabbing both Amy's and Larxene's arms while saying, "Let's decorate!"

Axel got up once the girls left and leaned against the doorframe, "So… Roxas…"

Roxas glared at Axel, his blush still on his face, "What?" He seemed a bit bitter from being interrupted from his… '_alone'_ time with Joy.

"Well," Axel started, a smirk forming on his face, "I'm guessing the _lip-lock_ was interesting, eh?" Roxas' face darkened in color as he quickly turned the other way, hearing the pyro laugh at him. "If you don't want to tell us, we still have a witness to what happened in this room."

Roxas looked taken aback and a bit afraid, looking back to his friend, "Who?"

Riku stepped into the room and pointed to something on the bed. Roxas turned his head toward Joy's bed and saw something sitting on it. Her tail up in the air happily, Cookie did what she does best: "Meow?"

* * *

"Okay, now that we're all here," Selphie declared, looking around the living room, "we're going to pull out the names for our Secret Santa extravaganza!" Grinning widely, Selphie pulled out five identical black hats and showed it to everyone, setting them down on the end-table. 

"Wait, I thought we were going to be decorating?" Joy asked confusingly sitting on the floor in front of Roxas, leaning against his legs, much to the dislike of Jun who was fortunately (for Roxas and Joy) sitting on another couch.

"We are," Kairi told her with a mischievous glint in her eye, "but we always have a Secret Santa pulling before decorating."

"You never told us about that," Cris grumbled as he laid back in his seat on the couch.

"Well, now I am," Kairi finished.

"But where are we going to go? There's no stores nearby is there?" Stacie asked the red-headed girl.

Selphie was the one that answered this time, a grin on her face, "We'll explain all that jazz later." Leaving it at that, she pushed up her sleeves and started to explain the rules, "Okay, since we have a huge amount of people this year compared to last year, and it's will be kind of sad if we only got one present each, so Kairi and I have decided that each and everyone of us will give and receive five presents."

Half the people agreed to the idea while others protested saying, "Waste of money!"

Ignoring the protesters, Kairi continued on with the explanation, "In each of the hats has our names; just pick up five strips of paper - without looking," she added, turning an eye to Sora who turned the other way, whistling innocently, "and those are the people that you buy presents for."

"The minimum of the price of each gift is five dollars," Selphie finished, adding in, "And don't tell anyone who you got for the Secret Santa." Selphie looked around the room, "Get it? Got it? Good."

* * *

"Hey Kairi, where does Jolly ol' St. Nick go?" Joy asked her friend, pointing at the hollow Santa Claus next to her. 

Kairi turned to her friend and contemplated about the matter for a moment before telling the girl, "It goes next to the tree, in front of the window."

"Got it!" Joy exclaimed, picking up the jolly man and setting him back down in front of the window, right next to the tall green Christmas tree. She stared at it with a grin before her face fell into a frown. She started to pout at it and crossed her arms at the non-moving object in front of her.

Roxas walking past her with a box of lights in his hands and saw her expression, "What's wrong, Joy?"

Joy pouted even more as she replied in a baby voice, "I feel so short."

Roxas looked from the hollow Santa to his friend and found that she indeed was right, "Yes you are."

Joy stuck her tongue at him, "You weren't suppose to agree…"

"Oh?" Roxas started, quirking his eyebrow, "Now what kind of guy would I be if I lied to you?"

Joy glared at him, seeing his point right away and started pointing in a random direction, "Go do your duties, mister, don't talk to me!" And with a grin plastered on her face, she walked off in the other direction.

Roxas smiled after as he did as he was commanded and walked off toward Hayner and Pence who were waiting for him. Hayner and Pence gave the blonde boy a knowing smirk which Roxas disregarded and dropped the box to the floor, leaving a _**THUD **_sound.

"Hey! Careful with those lights! We're not replacing those anytime soon!" Kairi hollered to the boy.

"We know, Kairi," Pence assured the red-head as he started taking out some lights from the cardboard box.

On the other side of the room, Joy was helping Olette, Taffy, and Amy decorate the naked Christmas tree as Selphie, Kairi, and Stacie were laying out the ornaments and such onto the end table. "So Selphie, has Tidus been calling you lately?" Joy teased the brunette sitting on the couch.

Selphie blushed at the name of the kendo boy before saying coyly, "Maybe."

"Maybe?" Olette exclaimed and scoffed at Selphie as she put up an angel on the tree, "At night, her cell phone won't stop ringing because the boy can't stop thinking about the girl."

"Ooo, Selphie, should I commence boyfriend operation: Tidus and Selphie??" Amy joked, prodding the cheeks of Selphie as she continued to blush.

"Who's Tidus?" Taffy asked the girls as she stood there next to the tree confused.

"Selphie's boyfriend," Olette replied simply.

"Oh," Taffy said, nodding in understanding.

"He's not my boyfriend!" Selphie protested, whining a bit from everyone's teasing.

Taffy put a comforting hand on Selphie's shoulder, totally misunderstanding the situation, "It's okay. We all get embarrassed by our boyfriends at times." Everyone laughed at Taffy's misinterpretation of what Selphie had just said.

Joy laughed along with the others, "Too bad Tidus and Wakka aren't here, with the foreign exchange program extended and all."

"Hey hey! What's that suppose to mean?" Stacie said.

Realizing what she said, Joy quickly turned to Stacie with an apologetic look, "Oh, you know what I mean Stacie."

"Uh-huh, sure!" Stacie replied sarcastically, returning to the box of ornaments, "Don't talk to me anymore, Joy."

"You know I love you, Stacie," the sea foam haired girl responded to her friend, returning back to the hanging of ornaments on the tree.

"You love me_more_," Joy felt hot breath tickle her ear and she quickly whipped her head to find that Roxas had just past her, a box in his hands.

She could feel her cheeks reddening at what he said and she exclaimed at the blonde boy, back turned toward her, "_Sure_ I do, Roxas!"

"Yup." He replied coolly, barely turning around enough for her to see him smirking. Joy stuck out her tongue, as per usual, at him.

Joy started fuming to hide her embarrassment, Amy, Olette, and Selphie laughing quietly at their friend. As the blue-green haired girl turned back to the tree, slipping on candy canes onto the tree, she heard Stacie ask, "Hey Olette, where are we going to go buy our Secret Santa gifts?"

"Oh, we're going Christmas Gift shopping tomorrow at the tunnel shopping center."

"A tunnel shopping center?" Joy asked, never hearing of such a thing.

"A tunnel, on a mountain?" Amy inquired from next to Joy, looking up to Olette from her seat on the floor.

"Not on a mountain, _**in**_ the mountain," Olette corrected her.

"Is that even possible?"

Before Olette could elaborate more of the wonders of a tunnel being inside the mountain, Joy heard the annoyingly female voice of Jun say, "Roxas! Can you help me with the doorway arch lights, please?"

"Do I have to?" Was Roxas' lazy reply.

Jun ignored his tone and pulled him to the doorway leading to the halls, being oblivious to Roxas' protests. Joy continued to face the tree, choosing to ignore the two teenagers heading toward the arch. She knew of Roxas' feelings toward her and trusted him completely. It hasn't even been a full day, so he wouldn't go lie about his words that fast.

Right?

Joy shook her head from her uneasiness and continued to decorate the tree which was nearly covered in ornaments and lights.

"_Wait a minute…"_ Was the thought that ran through the majority of the kids' heads in the room.

Sora.

Kairi.

Namine.

Olette.

Hayner.

Pence.

Selphie.

Riku.

Axel.

Demyx.

Zexion.

Larxene.

Marluxia.

The aforementioned teenagers turned their heads to Jun and Roxas in alert. How could Roxas forget?!

"Roxas!" Olette cried out suddenly causing Joy to swiftly turn around to see why the brunette had suddenly called out the blonde's name. The sight that she met shocked her. It was like witnessing a death right before her eyes… but Joy thought it was worse. No one knew she had turned around and she turned back to the tree, water already forming in her glossy violet eyes.

"_Don't forget the mistletoe goes in the doorway!"_

* * *

**_DUN DUN DUN!!_**

_Cliffie !! ;DD Hehe... oooo a mis-tle-toe!!! O.M.G. ! ;D Hope you liked this chapter!!!_**_ REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS PLEASE!! _**_Roxas is a nut-head huh ? Or should I say bonehead ? xP_**  
**

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

_I NEED **CRITISM** !!!  
_

Reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _GRACIAS_! xD

**_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want **more** reviews _PLEASE_ ! xD_  
_


	20. Parting

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC rushing _everywhere_ xP but _**you **_be the judge of that. Also, swearing is in this chapter and not censored. So yeah [:

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, Fernando, Cris, and Taffy.

Thank you for the reviews everyone! ;D_**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Nineteen**_  
**Parting**

The sound of cardboard hitting the floor reverberated in the living room.

No one could believe what they were seeing.

Two figures stood under the doorway to the hall, a small tiny shrub known as a mistletoe hung over them. According to a Christmas cheer custom, any two people who meet under a hung up mistletoe are obliged to kiss.

Who knew that this tradition would cause such dramatic turns.

The two teens under this traditional plant, to a certain extent, complied the custom.

'_Oh, hell no!'_ Amy could feel herself boiling up with rage to the point that she was clenching one of her free hands.

The female's arms wrapped around the male's neck, his own arms at his sides in shock - the box that he had been carrying laid forgotten on the floor.

The witnesses in the room stared at the pair in extreme shock, no one predicting that this would happen.

In one hour, Roxas had kissed another girl. Or was kissed _**by**_ another girl.

It was a good ten seconds before they pulled apart. Ten seconds is quite a moment.

Joy, still facing the Christmas tree, looked up to the ceiling in attempt to stop the tears from falling down her cheeks.

_Why didn't he push her away? I would have been fine with it if he had just pulled away from her. How could he do this to me?! Why did he let something like this happen?!_

_How could I have let this happen to me?_

Jun stared at Roxas' look of shock and smirked as she seductively said to the blonde, "Wanna get back together, Roxas?"

Kristina dropped the lights she was holding up against the wall, anger and shock written all over her face as she let out a clearly audible outburst, "You bitch!"

Everyone - excluding Jun - knew of the events that had happened only an hour ago between Roxas and Joy. It had spread like wild fire throughout the residents in the cabin. The only one not to know about this _gossip_ was Jun. Even Cris and Taffy knew about it.

"Dude," Cris quietly called to Axel, "I thought you said that Roxas and Joy confessed to each other?"

Unfortunately, Jun had heard and her smirk dropped completely from her place. She turned sharply to the Asian male and exclaimed, "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"You heard him," Amy said catching Jun's attention, "Roxas and Joy confessed their love for one another _and_ kissed." Amy smirked in victory at Jun's surprised reaction.

The said girl looked at Roxas, then to Joy with a ferocious glare in her dark onyx eyes. "What?" She responded with harsh tone.

Feeling as if she needed to stand up for her friend, Taffy stood up and softly said, "Joy and Roxas are together…"

Jun faced Roxas, "You're with that, that _coward_?!"

Amy took a step forward out of instinct, fury-filled eyes, and was about to take another step when she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Turning around, she stared at the person who had stopped her and gave her a questioning stare. On the other side of the room, Larxene also took a step forward, her fists clenched at her sides yet she was stopped by Axel holding her back.

Jun continued to stare at Roxas in disbelieving anger, "How could you be with that weakling?! She wasn't even suppose to talk to you!"

Finally snapping out of his stupor, Roxas asked confusingly, "What do you mean she wasn't suppose to talk to me?"

Before Jun could even notice that she had let something in the open when she wasn't suppose to, she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Whirling around she was met with rage-filled violet eyes. "Wh--"

_**SLAP.**_

Jun's head was forced to the side.

Joy wasn't sturdy enough to leave a simple cut on the girl's cheek and have blood oozing out of it like she wanted it to, but she was strong enough to leave a deep red hand print on her cheek. The force was strong enough to leave a stinging feeling in her hand.

Once again, everyone's faces was covered in pure shock and surprise.

Joy Kane, the girl that never hurt anyone intentionally had slapped a girl. The girl that was always nice and kind to everyone around her, even Jun, had physically harmed another. For once in their lives of knowing the innocent girl, they saw the hate in her eyes for the girl in front of her. They had never known anyone that Joy had ever hated before to the extent of actually slapping the person.

She was definitely no coward.

"Don't call me a coward."

Jun's eyes fired up with determination and faced Joy, "Don't be jealous, _Joy._"

Joy scoffed at her comment, "There's nothing to be jealous of."

"You just don't like the fact that _I won._"

It was Joy's turn to be confused, "Won? Won what? Roxas?" For that split-second, Joy glanced at Roxas and found him staring blankly at the two girls in front of him.

"You're just mad that Roxas kissed me after he kissed you. That's a clear sign that he chose me over _you_."

Joy seethed in anger and shoved Jun powerfully, "Roxas is _not_ a prize. Was that who you were aiming for all this time? You had to hurt _me_ just to get him? Well good for you, 'cause it worked. You're very good at a game that I don't want to play. But you better step back and remember what _cowardly_ acts you had to do just to get the guy you 'love.'" Jun stared at Joy, trying to hold her own strong look against Joy's determined eyes, "I'm done here."

Turning on her heel, she walked toward the girls' hallway - Roxas following right after. Jun started toward at the retreating girl before someone stepped in her way. She faced the person and saw Amy, Kristina, Larxene, Kairi, and Selphie blocking her way to the girls' hallway.

"What?" Jun asked annoyingly as she tried to go around the five teens.

"You insulted our friend." Selphie stated, her arms crossed.

Kristina proceeded to cracking her knuckles as Amy said, "No one gets away with insulting my best friend."

Kairi also stepped forward, "You better get ready to leave, Jun Tsu."

"_Ha! Everyone knows I have way more muscle than the both of you!" Kristina exclaimed, standing up in a prideful manner, interjecting Roxas and Axel's argument._

"I'm going to make you eat your words," Larxene said threateningly, readying her fist.

* * *

"Wait, Joy!" 

Joy didn't have to know turn around to know who called her name, "Go back to Jun, Roxas."

Ignoring her order, Roxas made Joy face him before asking, "What do you mean you're done here? You're not leaving are you?"

_"I don't know. Whatever happens this week, I'll decide then."_

Joy sighed, before saying, "Roxas, if you didn't love me you should've just--"

"I do love you!" Roxas pulled the girl toward him in an embrace, his head against the side of her hair, breathing in her peppermint scented hair that had been next to a Christmas tree filled with candy canes.

The blonde felt a two hands pressing against his chest, pushing him away. "Roxas, don't lie to me. All you had to do was tell me the truth." She looked to the floor in sorrow, "Sure… it would have hurt, but it wouldn't have broken my heart."

Those words struck Roxas like lightning and thunder, echoing in his ears.

_"...it wouldn't have broken my heart."_

_"...broken my heart." _

_**And I'm the reason for it.**_

"I never want to talk to you again." Joy's words hanging in the air, she turned around and quickly walked toward her room. A resounding _click_ reached Roxas' ears and he knew that she had locked her door.

Roxas hung his head in shame.

He remembered the look in her violet eyes. Anger, regret, fear, disbelief, and underneath all that, was pain.

* * *

_**Dear Joy and Amy,**_

_How are you two doing on the islands? I hope you girls like it there.  
If you don't, just tell me and I'll pull you out. I only had you two go there for the experience.  
I overheard your conversation the before I sent you and thought you needed some 'getting away'._

_Joy, our customers are requesting you. Can you visit for the holidays, if you can?  
Amy, you can too if you wish. I only need Joy for the holidays and then you can go back in January, maybe._

_I've noticed your letters lately have been sounding a bit depressing.  
Did something happen? Are you both alright?  
It's not another boy is it?  
I'm always here, you can always call me._

_I've seen both your grades and am very proud of the both of you.  
Although, Amy, keep studying your history; Joy, work on your math.  
I want to see straight A's next time._

_Call me, okay?_

_**Love,  
Mom**_

Joy stared at the rosy felt letter in her hands before reaching in her pocket and taking out her cell phone. Slowly and hesitantly, she pressed some numbers. Wiping the tears that were forming in her eyes and sniffing her nose, she pressed the phone against her ear.

- "Mom?"

- "I'm fine…"

- "I'll come for the holidays."

_Sniff._

- "Yes, I'm crying…"

_Sniff. Sniff._

- "…I just want to come home…"

- "No, she's staying here."

- "I want her to stay here. She has a boyfriend here. I don't want to separate her."

- "Okay."

- "That late?"

- "Got it, mom. Thanks."

- "Love you, too, mom…"

- "Bye."

Ending the call, Joy pet Cookie on her little furry head, trying to remain calm and forget the events that had just occurred. Finally getting up, Joy picked up her forgotten suitcase and backpack and proceeded to pack.

* * *

"Taffy, Namine, Fernando" Amy yelled to the three teens, "Get Jun's stuff - she's not staying here." The two girls and boy quietly nodded before running to Jun's room. 

"Excuse me?!" Jun exclaimed in disbelief. "You can't be serious."

Hayner took a seat on the couch and smirked, "Oh, they're serious, all right." Leaning against the back of the couch comfortably, he announced, "Let the catfight begin."

"Catfight--"

_**PUNCH.**_

_**THUD.**_

Jun screamed in pain as she fell to the floor and clutched her precious nose. Kristina had just punched her, and not only did it hurt her, but that one punch broke Jun's nose. Not one to back down without a fight, Jun quickly recovered and charged after Kristina. She merely dodged and crashed into Larxene who punched Jun in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her and shoving her to the ground, _**hard**_. Jun scowled while catching her breath and stood up, clutching her stomach.

Before more damage was done, Cris stepped in between the catfight and held out his hands to signal the three to stop, "Hey, that's enough. I think she gets it now."

"We have her stuff," Taffy and Namine made their appearance, coming out with Jun's bags and belongings. Fernando came out last, rolling a large suitcase to the room.

"Good, throw them outside," Amy commanded, showing no mercy to the pathetic girl in front of her. "Get out of here, Jun, or else you'll get more than a broken nose."

"Where am I suppose to go?! We're on a fucking mountain!" Jun yelled in anger, standing up abruptly.

"We don't care. You're **not** staying here, though," Larxene defiantly, taking a step to threaten the already scared girl.

Jun looked around the room and found everyone against her, backing Amy up. Everyone was glaring at her, something that people don't normally do toward her and she did _**not**_ like it. Roxas entered the scene and her eyes lit up. She ran to him for safety and grabbed onto his sleeve, "Roxas, you won't kick me out to the snow, will you? You won't let the others do that, would you? You'll protect me, right?"

Slowly, Roxas turned his head to the pleading girl hanging on him and he took her hand off him, giving the most evil glare that Jun had ever received at that moment and especially not from him, ever. To finish it off, he said the last few words that struck her like a lightning bolt, "Do I know you?"

Dark onyx eyes widened in shock as she stood there pitifully, staring as the blonde boy walked away from her and toward the couch. Stacie who was sitting on the couch, stood up and said, "No one wants you here, Jun, just**leave**."

"I - I'm not coming back, Roxas, I hope you realize that."

"Leave," was all he said to her.

"I mean it! Seriously Roxas, if you let me go, I am _not_--"

That's when she was pushed toward the door that was being held open by Zexion and Kristina said to the girl, "Yeah yeah, no one cares, leave already!" Kicking Jun out the door, Zexion slammed the door.

"**UGH**!!" They heard Jun cry out and then kick the door.

Selphie, noticing something out of the corner of her eye, she picked up a pair of shoes and opened the door. She saw Jun's eyes fill up with hope as she stared down at her before throwing the pair of shoes at her, "You forgot these," and slammed the door in her face once more.

Then, it became quiet.

After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Roxas let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. Looking up, he saw Amy in front of him, giving the boy a disapproving look, her arms crossed against her chest.

"She's in her room."

Amy glared at the boy, not even saying on word, before running toward the room she shared with Joy.

Hayner put a hand on Roxas' shoulder, catching his attention, "You messed up big time."

Roxas groaned and hung his head, again, in shame. He saw white shoes step in front of him and he looked up before he was slapped hard on the cheek. "Stop being a bonehead!" Namine stared hard at Roxas as he rubbed his cheek.

"Roxas, it's common sense that when you have a girlfriend, and a girl comes up to you and kisses you, you _push_ her away," Cris stated, shaking his head at the blonde boy.

"You're giving blondes a bad reputation," Selphie had to add in.

"Is it really my fault that she just came onto _me_?! It took me those ten seconds to realize what the hell was even going on!" Roxas protested, trying to defend himself.

Stacie reached in front of Hayner and punched Roxas on the arm. "Stupid Roxas."

The blonde boy grabbed his arm in pain, remembering the mistake he made before and Kristina had punched him too, on the same arm.

* * *

"You're going back home? Did you call mom already?" Amy asked. 

Joy nodded mutely as she continued to pack all her belongings and stuff them in her bags. "You're staying here; I don't want to separate you from Riku."

"What? You know--"

"Don't argue with me Amy. I want you to stay here," Joy said in a final tone.

Amy knew better than to argue with her angered best friend. Instead, she asked, "Why are you leaving, Joy? Is it because of Roxas?" No answer. "You should know that he didn't mean it."

"Nothing ever means anything to him," Joy replied, slamming a stack of clothes in her suitcase in frustration.

"He doesn't mean anything that's not about you," Amy said, trying to persuade the girl. "Like that kiss with Jun."

"That was two negatives," Joy pointed out, still continuing to pack up her clothes.

Amy sighed, "You know what I mean Joy. Stop being mad at him, I'm sure he wants to apologize."

"It's not that I'm upset with _him_, I'm upset with the fact that _he_ didn't push _her_ away, **and** that he didn't stick up for me when she called me a 'coward,'" Joy admitted, zipping her suitcase closed and flopping on the bed. "I doubt he even loves me; he was probably lying to me. That kiss meant nothing to him. He stole my first kiss and it meant nothing to him."

Amy didn't say anything this time.

Amy heard Joy sniff and say, "I always thought that love was following your heart." A small tear fell from her eye as she continued, "I wonder… what was Roxas' heart telling him to do?"

Amy gave a long sigh as her answer.

"When are you leaving?"

"Two days from today."

* * *

**11:12PM, December 24****th**

Everyone was in their respective rooms as the night drifted on. Kairi and Selphie had insisted everyone to sleep early so they can all wake up early and open their presents.

Since there were so many people in this cabin, there was a big pile of presents around the tree. Not under, but _around_. Presents of all sizes and colors, different wrapping papers and ribbons. Half of them wrapped nicely while the other half was another story.

Three figures entered the living room as another set of presents were placed next to the lit up Christmas tree, followed by a sound of a rolling suitcase. One of them walked toward the door and opened it as the other two walked out of the cabin.

A loud roaring sound was heard and the lights of a snowmobile came to the cabin.

The two people had a long hug before one of them put the stuff into the compartment of the vehicle and climbing onto the snowmobile, it drove off leaving the last two figures to run inside and out of the warmth.

* * *

_Sorry it ended all of a sudden xP Just wanted to keep it...suspenseful [: Yeahh... Almost the end of the story ! Expect a tragedy ! No, expect a happy ending ! No, expect... SOMETHING!! hahahahah I love you all... Also, I apologize for this chapter not being the usual long chapter that I have. I apologize for that._

Thinking of a Prince of Tennis story, review me and tell me what guy you want [: Or, go to my account page and see more about the story. Still a rough summary, so it'll probably change in the future! Almost the end of Don't Lie !! 

**REVIEWS** _PLEASE !_

_I NEED **CRITISM** !!!  
_

Reviews help me on my stories and motivates me to actually write. So _PLEASE PLEASE_ **review** !! Although, I do give thanks to **_all the readers_** that actually **reviewed** me, _ARIGATOU_! xD

**_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :) I want **more** reviews _PLEASE_ ! xD 


	21. Closing Stages

**Summary**: How long can you deny that you're in love? Joy is going to find out at Twilight High Boarding School.

**Genre**: Romance/Humor/Drama

**Pairings**: RoxasOC RikuOC NamineOC SoraKairi HaynerOlette TidusSelphie MarluxiaOC AxelLarxene DemyxOC(Other pairings may be decided later)

**WARNING**: Characters may be a bit OOC rushing _everywhere_ xP but _**you **_be the judge of that; I assure you though, there's rushing ! xP

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Kingdom Hearts II or any of its characters

**Claimer**: I own Joy, Amy, Cookie, Stacie, Kristina, Jun, Fernando, Mrs. Kane(Lillian), Cris, and Taffy.

Thank you for the reviews everyone! ;D_**  
**_

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty**_  
**Closing Stages**

_Tick-tock._

_Tick-tock._

_Tick-tock._

_Tick-tock._

_Tick-tock._

The wooden grandfather clock continuously ticked away as dawn sat upon her throne, starting the day. Today was a special day; it was a holiday to be exact. This holiday was the cheeriest of the year, filled with love, happiness, and a whole lot of presents. In one of the many bedrooms in the large cabin, contained a young brown-haired girl bouncing on her bed, her holiday outfit sparkling in the upcoming sunlight. A redhead standing next to her in her own holiday clothes stared at the silver watch wrapped around her wrist, restlessly waiting as the hand continued to move in circles.

The brunette started to bounce in anticipation on the bed, "Is it time yet?"

"No, not yet," the redhead replied, tearing her eyes away to look at her friend. "Stop bouncing, Selphie, or you're going to wake the others."

Selphie ceased her bouncing to respond quietly, "I can't help it!" Bouncing once again on the bed, she asked eagerly, "How many more seconds, Kairi?"

Quickly looking back to her watch, Kairi counted quietly, "In 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5--"

"4 - 3 - 2 - 1--"

_DING._

_DING._

_DING._

The sound of the grandfather clock echoed throughout the cabin as Selphie flew out the door and started banging on everyone's dorms, screaming at the top of her lungs, "IT'S CHRISTMAS! WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUTTS!"

Kairi shook her head, muttering to herself, "What a wake-up call," before walking out of the bedroom with a smile.

Once Selphie had stopped to beat down Amy and Joy's bedroom door, she shouted out, "COME ON, GET UP! YOU BETTER COME OUT HERE, TOO, JOY!" And she left the door without hearing a response.

Once the girls' hallway was woken up, Selphie went to the guys' hallway and continued to beat down doors, but with twice the effort. "**GET UP YOU LAZY BUMS! I KNOW YOU GUYS ARE AWAKE! IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY!**" Of course, Demyx ran out his door first, being the hyper one he was especially on a holiday; Zexion came out next since he had already been awake; and third of the early-birds was Pence, the cameraman, the one always ready with a camera.

"Mm… what happened? Where's the fire?" Sora stepping out lazily from his room, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes.

"That's the spirit, Sora!" Selphie exclaimed, ignoring the fact that he was still sleepy on a cheery holiday, continuing to skip merrily down the boys' hallway and knock loudly on doors.

Kairi rounded the corner of the hallway to make sure Selphie hadn't broken down any doors and passed by Sora who was still rubbing at his eyes, "Nice shirt, Sora." She grinned to herself as she counted down mentally to herself, _'3...2...1...'_

"Huh?" Sora looks down at his shirt of Mickey Mouse before realizing that he had it on inside-out. Blushing deeply, he ran in the room he shared with Riku to find that his roommate was already snickering at him. "Shut up, Riku."

"I would if you were _properly_ wearing your shirt," Riku retorted, walking out of the room already fully clothed casually, leaving Sora in his embarrassment.

* * *

Laughter, excitement, happiness, and the occasional disappointment filled the living room as everyone pranced around with their unwrapped gifts. Wrapping paper was littered everywhere and boxes were tore open and scattered carelessly along with abandoned ribbons sticking to the floor. 

Demyx was rocking out on his new guitar. His old one had gotten destroyed; hopefully, he will take better care of this new one.

Zexion sat in an armchair, enjoying a book he had been given for the festivities.

Stacie and Kristina playfully argued with one another, trying to prove that their stuffed animal was better than the other; Stacie's hippo VS Kristina's plushie. Marluxia was next to his girlfriend, shaking his head at her in disapproval, then leaving them alone to their bickering.

Fernando hugged his girlfriend in glee as he stared at the DVD he wanted all month, Namine next to him, admiring the art set that she had received from the boy.

Larxene was chasing Axel around the room with her new attachable cat claws, Axel's discarded - for the time being - gift on the couch next to Cris who was eating his chocolate from his chocolate bag, enjoying the show in front of him.

Taffy and Selphie were currently exchanging presents, laughing as they found out who one of their Secret Santas were. Sora and Riku were battling one another with their new key-like swords (keyblades) as Pence took pictures of everyone on his new camera.

After Olette had opened one of her presents to see a beautifully jeweled necklace, she discreetly pecked Hayner on the cheek before slipping on the jewelry, her _secret_ boyfriend grinning from ear to ear. Hayner noticed someone sitting on one of the couches, alone, and whispered in Olette's ears. She nodded her head at him before walking off to Selphie. Hayner headed to the couch and plopped in a seat next to the blonde headed Roxas.

"Did you even open any of your gifts?" Hayner asked his best friend.

Roxas answered with a shake of his head. "Why open presents when you don't deserve them?"

"Aw, don't be like that man, I bet Joy's forgot about the whole thing like everyone else. Just open a gift, cheer yourself up man," Hayner said comfortingly as much as he can sound. He twisted in his seat and reached for a random gift in the sea of wrapped presents under the tree next to the couch, surprising himself when he chose a gift that was for Roxas; a large box it was. "Here, this should give you a little holiday spirit," Hayner announced, placing the gift on his friend's lap.

Roxas stared at the gift, curiosity taking over him as he slowly peeled the wrapping paper off. Staring at the box he had unwrapped, he half expected to find a humungous clock within its contents as he took off the lid of the package. What he found instead in the box nearly made his eyes pop out of its sockets.

Amy and Kairi were next to the Christmas tree, passing out the gifts to their giddy friends. "Sora, you have another gift!" Amy shouted, holding another box in her hands out for Sora.

Quitting his duel, Sora ran over to Amy and seized the present, eagerly ripping it to shreds. Riku laughed and walked over to Amy, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and kissing her on the forehead, "Having fun?"

"As much as I can," Amy replied, sadness hidden underneath her smile.

Riku brought his girlfriend in an one-arm embrace, comforting the girl, "Are you going to tell everyone or am I?"

Before Amy could answer him, Kristina was tapping on her shoulder, "Amy, Amy! Where's Joy?"

Kairi's ears perked up at her friend's name and she looked up from her seat on the floor to ask the same question. "Where _is_ Joy?"

Selphie popped out of nowhere from next to Stacie, Taffy at her side, "Don't tell me she's still in her room!"

"She's not going to lock herself in her room again, is she?" Stacie exasperated from her seat on the couch.

Amy couldn't answer any of these questions that were thrown at her when they all heard, "Dude! That's kickass!!"

All heads turned toward Hayner as he sat there in awe at Roxas. Everyone looked at him in bewilderment when they finally noticed the object in Roxas' lap. The blonde himself was staring in shock at his gift.

Sitting on his lap was a beautifully custom designed skateboard.

"_Hey Cookie, did I tell you that Axel broke Roxas' skateboard?" _

To the spectacular wheels to its crafter board, across it was his name. It was like the skateboard was made for him!

Axel whistled at Roxas in amazement, coming up behind him, "Geez Roxas, who got you this?"

Larxene's green eyes studied Roxas' gift and pointed at the corner of the board, "Who else would leave their song on it?" Where Larxene was pointing at, in small print letters and in a beautifully artistic way, it read 'Joy to the World.'

Roxas gazed at the skateboard, running a hand across it in admiration. "Joy made those designs." Roxas looked up, Amy standing in front of him with arms folded across her chest. The blonde boy placed the skateboard in his seat and stood up, heading to the girls' hallway.

"Where you going, Roxas?" Hayner asked his friend.

Amy didn't need to be psychic to know that Roxas was going to get Joy, "You won't find her there."

Roxas stopped in his tracks. _'She won't be there?'_

He spun around quickly, facing Amy with a questioning look, "What do you mean she won't be in her room?"

"She's not here."

"What? But, all these presents are for her," Kairi said, speaking up for once. She was right.

There were still a large amount of presents under the Christmas tree, most of them addressed to Joy. "Whoa! Did like _everyone _get her present?" Selphie exclaimed in wonder, staring at all the presents with sparkly eyes.

"I guess she won't be getting them at this moment," Amy stated, leaning onto Riku for support.

Time stopped for Roxas. It was as if his brain just shut down. Time was up and he was too late.

Too late to apologize.

Too late to prove his love for the spontaneous girl.

Too late to embrace the joy tightly against him.

Too late to kiss the living daylights out of her.

Too late to give her present that he wanted to give to show that she was a special person to him.

"What? She went back home?!" Stacie shouted out in shock.

Amy nodded numbly, Kristina mumbling, "No way, she left us…"

"She should've just waited for us!" Stacie exclaimed, "We were going to go back to our school the week we came back to Twilight High."

"Did she bring Cookie with her?" Fernando asked, a bit randomly.

Amy gave the boy in an incredulous look, "Yes, Fernando, that's why Cookie isn't here and eating at Cris' chocolates." Amy saw the 'Cookie-can-eat-chocolate' face on Cris and she responded to it, "She's not allowed to eat chocolate, but she will try to get some."

Swallowing the lump that had started to form in Roxas' throat, he asked, "She - she's not planning to stay there, is she?"

Amy shrugged, "I don't know, _she_ doesn't even know."

Roxas stared at the ground, deep in thought. His bright blue eyes filled with confusion, anger, regret; he felt the rush of emotions overcome him as his mind went into overdrive. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what he _should_ do.

What was he suppose to do?

It was as if Amy was reading his mind, "Roxas, it's never too late."

Tearing his gaze away from the floor, he found Amy staring at him with unreadable eyes. Riku, behind her, holding her against him as he, too, looked at Roxas with unreadable eyes. It was as if the two were testing him, seeing what he would do. "You love her, don't you, Roxas?" Riku said this in more of a statement than a question, possibly stating the obvious.

"Roxas," Amy gave him one final test and she smiled to herself remembering Joy's words, "What is your heart telling you to do?"

Roxas was hit by those words at full speed.

What was his heart telling him to do?

Closing his eyes, Roxas shut himself off from the outer world.

Everyone watched him intently, waiting, anticipating. Roxas never did this. He never listened to his inner self. Yet, Roxas realized something.

He wanted to follow his heart; something he had never done before.

Everyone held their breath.

"Where's Joy's hometown?"

* * *

**Old Redshine, California - Christmas Day, 8:35PM.**

In the small town of Old Redshine, a busy restaurant was heard from outside, anyone passing by clearly hearing the music and feel the warmth radiating off. Couples, families, people alone walking near felt like they were being pulled into the restaurant as they entered.

As another couple entered the restaurant, they were greeted by an elderly looking woman, "Welcome to Kane Buffet, please take this flag, choose any table you like and our servers will get to you."

Taking the small flag from the woman's hands, the two looked around the restaurant, half an ear listening to the singer on the stage continuing to sing in that melodic voice of hers.

_Where the Christmas gifts do say I love you_

_There some that say it's just a dream_

_But close your eyes and you can almost see it_

_All you have to do is just believe it_

_Maybe there's a stocking full of Christmas Joy_

The elder woman faced the entrance once again, her job being greeter of the restaurant since she was the owner of the restaurant, she saw many people bustling through the doors, all trying to escape the shivering cold winds of the outside.

The owner gave her welcoming smile and greeted kindly to the teenagers, "Welcome to Kane Buffet, please choose any table you like that does not have a flag upon it, place your own flag on it and our servers will come to you." Noticing the large number of the guests, she pointed to a different area of the restaurant, "Our larger tables are over there."

One of the teenagers and walked up to the woman with a smile, three teens following behind her, "Mrs. Kane! It's us!"

The owner, Mrs. Kane, stared at the kids in front of her before her face lit up in happiness and she hugged the four students lovingly, "Oh my! What a surprise!"

"Yes, we're surprised, too, Mrs. Kane," Stacie said, giving a hug to the lady.

Mrs. Kane chuckled lightly and looked behind the four, "So, are these your new friends?"

"Yes, _**all**_ our friends from Twilight High," Fernando answered.

"Wow, you made quite a bit of friends," Mrs. Kane quickly turned around and called over an employee to take her place as she led the group of teens to a secluded area of the restaurant, "I wasn't expecting you kids to come on such short notice; I only knew Joy was coming."

"Well," Amy started, "Joy doesn't know we came…"

"Oh she doesn't now?"

"Yes well, she didn't tell any of us she was going to come back here," Kristina added.

"Really? Hm… she didn't tell me that."

_Why couldn't it be Christmas everyday_

_Riding around with Santa on his Sleigh_

"Oh, she's already singing?" Stacie asked, turning her attention to the stage as she continued to follow Joy's mother through the restaurant.

"Of course she is, all our customers have been requesting for her lately," Mrs. Kane informed the teenagers as they all sat around in different booths in the secluded area.

Roxas stood in the middle of the area as he had his eyes on the person on the stage.

_Why couldn't it be Christmas Christmas Christmas everyday  
_

_Just believe in Christmas Christmas Christmas all the way_

Her melodic voice drifted through his ears as he continued to listen to the young girl's voice. It wasn't the best voice in the world, but to him, her voice was like the angels were singing, except better. Her short blue green sea foam hair were in small pigtails, a Santa hat upon her head as she wore red and white clothes to fit the occasion; her violet eyes sparkled under the spotlight as she danced and sang, entertaining the people eating.

"Come on, get your seat, don't want to get in the way of the servers now," Mrs. Kane hurried Roxas to a random seat next to Hayner in a booth.

Laughing at his best friend's expression, Hayner put a hand on his shoulder, "Now that you're here, do you know what you're going to say to her?"

Roxas widened his eyes.

He was on an eleven hour flight - plus an extra hour just to try and get to the restaurant - and he had no idea what he was going to say.

This time, Hayner slapped his forehead, "Roxas!"

_And I hope that it doesn't come late_

Roxas stood up, his gaze fixed on Joy, who was still singing merrily on the stage.

He didn't know what he was going to do.

He didn't know what he should do.

But, he wasn't going to sit around and think about it when she was just _right there_.

He saw Joy bow as the audience around him applauded. Joy grinned at the people clapping around her, "Do I have any requests? Come on people! I know every song out there!" Many hands rose up in the air.

Joy looked through the vast crowd of the restaurant when she saw a certain hand in the air. A lump immediately formed in her throat as she nearly dropped the microphone in her hands. Roxas felt the pang of hurt inside him when he saw the look of pain appear upon Joy's features as she stared at him. Everyone around the room continued to make noises to be called on while Joy and Roxas locked eyes, Joy's eyes looking between hurt and anger.

Quickly averting her gaze, Joy pointed randomly at a girl, "Yes you, what do you want me to sing?"

"Actually, I have a question," it was a young girl, maybe around the age of ten, "does it have to be a Christmas song?"

Laughter filled the restaurant. "No, it doesn't have to be," Joy answered, awaiting the song the little girl wants her to sing.

"Can you sing 'Before I Let You Go?'" The young girl asked, "I want to dedicate it for my older sister to someone special to her."

Joy's breath hitched as she heard the song title. Swallowing hard, she forced a smile and said, "Well then, I shall use my," deepening her voice to a male's pitch, "MANLY VOICE!"

She was met by silence.

Joy put on an annoyed expression and muttered into the microphone, "Tough crowd." The restaurant once again filled with laughter, she asked, "So, everyone okay with that song?" A chorus of 'Yes' was heard and Joy smiled once more, "Okay then! 'Before I Let You Go' by Richard Gutierrez and Angel Locsin; hit it!"

The sound of a piano filled the room as Joy slowly swayed with the song. Sneaking the smallest of glances toward Roxas who had started walking closer to the stage, she looked into the crowd and drew the microphone toward her, her voice drifting through everyone's ears.

_I can still remember yesterday_

_We were so in love in a special way_

_And knowing that you love me_

_Made me feel, oh, so right_

_Yesterday…_

Roxas felt as if the song was portraying what Joy felt at that moment. As if she was telling him something through this song.

Joy sang through this song with a strong voice, yet inside of her, she was falling apart. Memories of what had happened only a day before flooded through her mind and she could almost feel the tears prickling through her moist eyes. She was trying to hold it in, at least until after this song. She could feel Roxas' stare on her.

_Before I let you go_

_I want to say I love you_

"I love you, too," Roxas heard himself whisper out.

Back to the secluded area, Amy quickly left the area and headed toward the back of the stage, grabbing Roxas by the shirt and making him follow after her.

"Joy is a really great singer," Selphie complimented as she continued to listen to her friend sing.

_I hope that you're listenin'_

'_Cause it's true, baby_

_You'll be forever in my heart_

_And I know that no one else will do_

"How ironic that someone would have her sing this song," Kairi said and the others at her table nodded in agreement.

"Hey, where's Roxas?" Sora asked, looking around the area.

* * *

_Before I let you go_

_I want to say…_

_I love you_

Joy bowed once more to the applauding crowd and said into her mic, "Okay everyone, ten minute break for me," and with that, Joy left the stage and entered back stage. She looked to the speakers and said to the DJ next to it, "Go get something to eat, Jimmy, before you starve." The DJ nodded at the girl and left without a word.

Taking a quick swig of water from her bottle, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Ceasing her gulping, she turned around. What her eyes met made her drop the water bottle.

"R-Roxas?" Joy stammered as she took a step back.

"The one and only…"

"Didn't I say that I'm never going to speak to you ever again?"

"You're talking to me right now."

"Not the point." Joy saw Roxas fidget a bit before lessening her attitude. "What are you doing here?" She asked with a gentle tone.

"I wanted to say… I'm sorry." Roxas said, finally looking back up at her, locking eyes with her.

Being alert toward the eye contact, Joy quickly looked down and picked up the dropped water bottle, avoiding contact as she walked to a nearby trashcan, "Sorry for what?"

"For hurting you," Roxas took his hands out of his pockets, "I knew I should've pushed her away. But I didn't know what was going on; one second, I'm carrying a box and the next, I'm being forced into something I did **not** want to happen." Joy walked back toward Roxas, finally gaining the confidence to face him, but when she looked back at him, she felt her knees go weak again. "I'm _really _stupid, and I'll admit to that. But know this: I never wanted to break your heart. I meant what I said yesterday, that I love you. I love you and_ only_ you, Joy."

"That sounds familiar," Joy said, barely above a whisper. Joy didn't want to hear it; she started to walk away from the blonde boy. She would've exited the back stage if she wasn't grabbed by the wrist.

Roxas was not going to let her walk away this time.

Joy was jerked around and before she could yell at the boy, she felt something smack against her lips, stopping any words from coming out of her mouth. Roxas' other arm wrapped around her waist as his other hand continued to hold on to her wrist.

It was that kiss again.

The kiss that sent Joy to cloud nine all over again.

Roxas poured everything into that kiss. His feelings, emotions, his whole being and more. He wanted nothing else. It felt as if they were the only people in the world that mattered. Nothing mattered to them except the person they were kissing.

Everything faded out of Joy's head until one event flashed in her mind.

Joy put her free hand against Roxas chest and roughly pushed him away from her.

The blonde boy staggered a bit from the force and stared at Joy in shock. "You really think I'm going to stand here and let you kiss me when I know you kissed Jun not too long ago?!"

"I --"

"No, I'm not!" Joy shouted at him with anger in her voice, "You can tell me you love me all you want, but I'm _**not**_ going to believe you."

Roxas stood there.

He had poured everything into that kiss…

And it wasn't enough to show that he loved her?!

"W-what… What am I suppose to do?" Roxas took in another breath to stop himself from raising his voice at the girl, "What do I _need_ to do in order to show that I'm not lying to you?"

_Silence._

Joy bit her lower lip and asked in a voice barely above a whisper, "Roxas, what is your heart telling you to do?"

Roxas, like before, closed his eyes and took inhaled a long breath. "Joy Kane. I love you more than you can imagine. When I bumped into you that day, I never knew I would meet someone like you, especially not have you as a roommate. I'll be honest; for me, it felt like love at first sight. The thought of you when you weren't next to me just made me blush as red as Axel's hair.

"You have no idea how jealous I was when Ricky came to our school and flaunted around you like nothing. I was so jealous to the point I wanted to sock Ricky in the face. I never knew I could be so jealous like that. And when I heard you got kidnapped, I panicked. I thought I was going to lose you, I really did."

Roxas shook his head from the past memories and advanced toward the girl, "Joy, you have to know that I never wanted to hurt you. I've always loved you from the day that I met you and I _still_ do." Roxas reached out for Joy, surprised she did nothing to resist, and brought her in an embrace, "You need to know that when I hold you, I'm afraid of letting go…"

"…Why? Why are you afraid?"

"Because I don't want to lose you."

Joy looked up from the embrace, at the boy who was holding her. She didn't know what to say. Should she believe him?

"Roxas, I don't know if I should believe you or think you're lying…" Joy admitted, leaning against the boy's chest.

Roxas held the girl in his arms even tighter, "Believe me and I will show you how much I'm not lying."

_Take the risk…_

Joy looked up at him with uncertain violet eyes, but when her eyes locked with his, her worries went away.

_Because sometimes…_

Roxas looked down at her with his bright blue eyes and brought his hand to her face, a smile forming on his lips.

_Taking risks…_

He caressed her cheek tenderly and brought his head down to meet her awaiting lips.

_Can be worth it all._

**Fin**_  
_

* * *

_O.M.G. That's the end! I can't believe it! No, I'm just kiddng; there's still an epilogue._

_Although, I hope you enjoyed it even though the ending was a bit rushed ? So, leave me a review please! Also, please check out my account page for the upcoming stories I'm think of making. PM me or whatever and tell me what you think and VOTE ! ;D Love you all, thank you for reading and supporting me!_

**_Support me _**by telling your friends about me and this story :)

* * *

**_Preview of my next Prince of Tennis story_**

**Tennis Rhythm**

It was an intense match; Prodigy against Princess.

Even though Ryoma had witnessed some heart-crushing events for the girl earlier, it seemed to have affected her a bit considering she was making unforced errors in her play. He had heard many rumors about this girl, but it didn't seem to be true.

She had another double fault.

Ryoma did not like the where this match was going and the girl could tell.

Echizen Ryoma anticipated for his opponent's serve as he stood at the base line. He watched as the girl stared back at him, a tennis ball in her left and her racket in her right. The second time for that day, hazel connected with cerulean. For a split-second, Ryoma saw something in her eyes; her sky blue eyes reflected and it almost looked as if she were pleading to him.

At last, she threw the ball up into the air and brought her racket up.

Ryoma readied his own racket, intensely watching the lime green ball.

With extreme force, the girl smacked the ball.

Nanoseconds later, Ryoma stood up straight as he saw the tennis ball hit against the net.

"I concede the game."

_And that's the preview for my next story I'm working on. ;D Please check out my account page and vote for who you want the girl to fall for. I hope this preview will help you to imagine the next story will be. PLEASE VOTE! ONCE I KNOW WHO YOU WANT HER TO FALL FOR, I WILL POST UP THE FIRST CHAPTERS SOON!_

_If you do not like Prince of Tennis in particular, please tell any friends that would be interested in it. Please and thank you! ;D _


	22. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**8:14AM, February 27**

"Hey Roxas, can I borrow your skateboard?" Axel asked his close friend, draping an arm around his shoulders casually.

"No way, Axel. After breaking my other skateboard, I'm not letting you even get near my new one," Roxas said, biting into his toast.

Axel took off his arm from the boy's shoulders and smirked, "You're not letting me touch it just because Joy gave it to you."

"That's one of the reasons," Roxas retorted giving his close friend a victorious smirk. Suddenly, Roxas' saw darkness; something was covering his eyes.

"Guess who!" Came a female's voice, reaching his ears.

"Speak of the devil," Roxas said, smirking inwardly. He placed his hands over the small ones over his eyes and said, "Is this person a girl?"

_Giggle._ "Yes."

"Is she smart in English?"

_Chuckle. _"Maybe."

"Is she really good at tennis?"

_Scoff._ "Nope!"

"Oh really now?" Roxas grabbed the arms of the person behind him and pulled them forward, causing the female to yelp as she came crashing on him, "I think she's really great at tennis."

"You're just saying that because you can't play!" Joy teased as she wrapped her arms around the blonde's neck.

Axel laughed at the couple in front of him, "Dude, Roxas, you're so hooked."

"Just like you are with Larxene!" Joy taunted as she saw Larxene walk toward the table.

Axel, noticing the approaching blonde, put an arm around her shoulder and greeted the girl, "Hey babe."

Larxene's snake-like eyes glared at the arm around her shoulder when she elbowed the redhead and responded, "What did I tell you about pet names?"

"Right…" Axel said, rubbing his poor stomach.

Joy quickly pecked Roxas on the cheek before standing up straight and sitting next to the boy, being across from Namine. "Hey Nami," she greeted the blonde artist drawing on the table, "how's your long-distance relationship with Fernando?"

Namine smiled in response, "It's great. We're going to visit them during Spring Break, right?"

"You bet'cha!" Joy assured her with a giant grin.

"Which reminds me!" Axel exclaimed, getting over his pain, "Demyx has been on the phone and online more lately. Is it because of Stacie?"

Joy grinned all-knowingly, along with Namine, "They're so totally into each other! They're always texting each other during class and on the phone like 24/7!"

That was the moment Pence decided to join up in the table, "Demyx is totally love-sick; he sent a dozen roses to her on Valentine's Day. Demyx hasn't done anything like that, especially when the girl is half across the world!"

Joy laughed, "What can you say, love is in the air this month!" Joy felt Roxas wrap his arms around her waist and she leaned against him in comfort.

Hayner and Olette came waltzing in through the cafeteria doors and the group saw them get their lunch, Hayner moving his arm to around her waist. Their relationship had gone public ever since the end of the snow trip. Hayner would usually be seen with her, having an arm around her which she didn't protest to. Soon enough, the couple had joined the table. Later on, Riku and Amy came by greeting everyone, Riku's arms around his girlfriend protectively. Sora, with Kairi piggy-back riding on his back, were next to the previous couple. The whole table rumbled in laughter and happiness.

Selphie and Tidus were off somewhere, Tidus trying to teach Selphie how to play blitzkrieg. Selphie wasn't the best student, but Tidus had his patience with this girl. Wakka was off with a girl, surprisingly. Everyone thought he was too focused on his sports. It seems Spring has taken a toll on him as well. Zexion was in the library, reading his book as per usual; love didn't crack his shell, except for his love of reading. Marluxia was on the phone with Kristina as per usual.

And Joy couldn't be any happier.

She had a loving and caring boyfriend, great friends, and she was attending an awesome school.

She broke her promise, took a risk and found it worth taking.


	23. Angry Author Note

**Author's Note**

I just wanted to point out that someone has taken some of my ideas from this story. For my loyal readers, this plot and story is completely my idea. I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters, but this fanfiction was created by me, Jamila Valiente.

I made this story in 2007 and finished it in 2008.

If you have an account on Quizilla and you see a story similar to this one (it's called "Twilight High Kingdom Hearts"), it has different OCs and slightly different scenes, but in all technicality, it's the same as this story right here, written on and the original Don't Lie has stayed on this website for the last four years. Some parts are even copied from my own story, **word for word**.

I would like to thank **Lesli** for she pointed this out to me.

So in all honesty, I am completely pissed off that the user didn't even so much as credit me for any part of "their" story. So, just wanted to point this out to any reader. Well they credited me slightly, saying their story is BASED OFF my story, but essentially, most of the text in the chapters are **WORD for WORD.**

So I hope all my faithful readers know in their hearts that THIS story and the story on Quizilla is the same story, AND IT IS CREATED BY ME.


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